Andhra Pradesh Govt supported people even in financial crunch during COVID: State FM

In a direct response to the Telugu Desam Party's (TDP) allegations on the Andhra Pradesh government, State Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath said that the State government did great work during the COVID-19 situation, despite a revenue fall. He also attacked the previous government for worsening the financial condition of the state. 

Andhra Pradesh government on TDP's allegations

Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath provided detailed statistics on the financial condition of the state followed by the initiatives taken by the government in the COVID-19 situation. He said that the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) between 2014 and 2019 was 10.03 per cent, and now in this situation, the growth rate is just at 1.30 per cent resulting in a loss of Rs 7,947.07 crores. 

He further said that even with such a low growth rate, the State government had provided every possible facility to the people during the pandemic, including proper treatment, medical infrastructure, testing, vaccinations, and many more. The government had spent Rs 7,130.19 crores for COVID-19 relief, he added. 

Further, taking a dig at the former Andhra Pradesh government which was led by Chandrababu Naidu, Rajendranath said that the TDP government weakened the financial condition of the state by taking a huge amount of loans. The total debt during the time of bifurcation in 2014 was Rs 1,18,544.34 crore, however, now it has increased to Rs 2,57,509,85 crore. Also, the TDP government had left a debt of around 1 crore rupees. 

Meanwhile, providing details on the total borrowings of the current government, he said that out of Rs 1,27,195.81 crore, around Rs 1,051,22.22 crore has been credited to the farmers and women as financial support. 

Finance Minister Rajendranath compares the previous government with the current

Taking a step ahead, Rajendranath also compared the present government led by CM Jagan Mohan Reddy with the previous government led by Chandrababu Naidu. On one hand, when the former government only waived Rs 15,279.42 crore of farm loans, the present government has already spent around Rs 83,102.18 crore for the well-being of the farmers. Furthermore, many other investments have been done towards the welfare of the farmers. 

He added that the TDP government had provided pensions to only 39 lakh people within six months before the elections, while the current government is disbursing pensions to around 59.82 lakh people. 

(With ANI inputs)

(Image Credits: Facebook/PTI)