Leader of Opposition J Jayalalithaa on Monday charged that the State was on its way to bankruptcy because of the wrong fiscal policy of the DMK government.

She said the State had a debt burden of Rs 90,000 crore and the government was paying Rs 20 crore as interest per day. Moreover, every newborn child in the State carries a debt burden of Rs 15,000.
Winding up the discussion on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address, Jayalalithaa said the DMK regime between 1996- 2001 left the State to the AIADMK government with dual economic burden – budget deficit and debt trap. However, due to prudent fiscal management, the AIADMK regime created surplus revenue of Rs 1,951 crore in 2005-06 and the budget deficit stood at just Rs 2,251 crore.

In contrast, now the revenue deficit stood at Rs 1,024 crore while the budget deficit had shot up to Rs 11,824 crore, Jayalalithaa said and added that the DMK government was spending the huge borrowings on non-value creating commodities instead of investing them on increasing infrastructure facilities.

Further, the State had been spending the amounts received through loans on non-performing items instead of spending them on items, which would pay more dividends than the interest rate due on the market borrowings.

“While the income of the State is being wasted, the tax revenue collection has come down and the deficit has burgeoned manifold,’’ Jayalalithaa charged.