Himachal govt's white paper on state's finance a bundle of lies, says Jai Ram Thakur

Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday called the government's white paper on the financial position of the state a 'bundle of lies.'

Thakur called the white paper 'wrong and fabricated' and claimed the financial mismanagement of the state dates back to 1993-1998 when the Congress government raised a loan of Rs 1,000 crore from the market at a higher rate of interest on behalf of the State Electricity Board.

The Congress government raised Rs 20,000 crore in loan also during 2012-2017 and this white paper deserves to be thrown into dustbin, he told reporters.

The Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly said that three installments of dearness allowance were due when the BJP government took over in 2017, and besides paying 18 per cent DA, the government also paid additional three per cent interim relief to the employees and pensioners.

Thakur said that the Goods and Service Tax compensation was only valid for five years and the state government with its white paper was trying to mislead people on this issue.

The Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government had earlier claimed that the central government has stopped giving it GST compensation which would cause the state a revenue loss of Rs 2,642 crore annually.

Thakur alleged that under UPA I and UPA II, Himachal got only Rs 108 crore for Railways, which was increased to Rs 1,838 during NDA rule.