'Kerala finance minister KN Balagopal skipped many queries on economy'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government has ignored most of the questions raised by the opposition as well as ruling party members in the assembly on the actual position of the state finances.
Not even one third of unstarred questions (written questions and answers) to finance minister K N Balagopal in the recently-concluded seventh session of the assembly has been answered.
Out of the 321 questions asked to the FM, only 105 (32.7%) questions have been answered, shows the data from the assembly. This is in violation of assembly rules and despite the fact that the finance department itself had issued a circular on December 3, two days before the beginning of the assembly session, asking all the officials to ensure that the assembly questions are answered on the same day, without delay.
Opposition MLAs point out that the government has been deliberately withholding information readily available with it to keep the poor situation of the state finances under the wraps. "The answers provided by the ministers in the assembly are the most reliable sources of information in the legislative business," Congress MLA P C Vishnunath said, adding that the government has been withholding information, despite several rulings against doing so by successive speakers.
The questions that have been ducked by the finance minister include the questions on whether the state could come out of the impact of Covid-19, the growth in GST in the last financial year, whether the state is facing a shortage of Rs 23,000 crore in revenues because of the Centre's policies, whether the state has analysed its steps taken to increase its own revenue, whether the state's economic growth is proportionate to the national growth, pension arrears, etc.
Interestingly, some of these key questions were raised by the ruling party MLAs, including CPM state secretary M V Govindan.
Though several ministers have fared well in answering the questions, some of the key questions that are likely to become highly critical of the government and are likely to catch the attention of the public still remain unanswered.
A question to PWD minister P A Muhammed Riyas on the expenses in renovating the swimming pool in the CM's official residence, still remains unanswered. At the same time, the same data was obtained by a public activist through an RTI query in which the government had replied that it had spent Rs 32 lakh for renovating the pool.