State doesn’t have resources for economic stimulus: Prithviraj Chavan

Nagpur: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been demanding a Rs50,000 crore package from the state government for reviving the economy hit by the lockdown. Countering this, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan of Congress said the state government did not have that kind of money.
“About 85% of state government’s expenditure is on salaries, pension and loan repayment. That leaves very little for other activities. Secondly, there are very few sources which can help the state government increase its revenue, including cess on fuel, excise duty on liquor etc,” said Chavan while addressing a video press conference.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has not only refused to announce a package but cut the budget of all departments by 67%. This is an unprecedented decision during a recession. It has also refused to waive off loans of 11 lakh farmers.
Chavan slammed the central government for failing to revive the economy. When it was pointed out that India’s economic capital Mumbai was under lockdown since weeks, he said, “The number of cases in Mumbai is the highest. Even after World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic, central government allowed people to come to India for 15 days. They spread coronavirus in Mumbai. Secondly, the city has huge slums like Dharavi, where social distancing is impossible. Nevertheless, there has to be a balance between lives and livelihood.”
The ex-CM said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had done nothing to generate demand. “Countries like United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan etc have directly given money to people to buy goods and services and thus revive the economy. India has taken care only of the supply side. If people don’t buy goods, how will industrialists sell their products,” he added.
The Congress leader pointed out that Indian economy had been in trouble even before the pandemic. “The GDP growth in January to March quarter was 3.1%, lowest in several years. The economy had not been hit by coronavirus during this period. Even now Modi is not serious about the economy. On Wednesday, he said that it will grow this fiscal, which is impossible. The situation is catastrophic and he must replace finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman,” he said.
On governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Chavan said the governor was too pro-active, which created an impression that efforts were being made to destabilize the state government.