Himachal CM Sukhvinder Sukhu govt faces daunting task in mobilising resources
KS Tomar
Due to the failure of the BJP high command to reconcile with three defeats in a row in Himachal, the Congress government in the state is poised to face Centre’s indignation and ire on three fronts which may land it in a serious financial crisis in future.
The Centre has reduced the loan limit of the state by Rs 5,500 crore that may lead to a financial crisis and the state government may face the challenge of giving salaries, pension, etc. to its employees and pensioners on time.
Analysts say that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has fulfilled party’s main poll guarantee about restoration of Old Pension Scheme (OPS) which was opposed by the Centre. The CM recently announced in a huge thanksgiving rally organized by thousands of employees at Dharamsala that they should be ready for a long battle with Centre to get back their contribution of Rs 9,292 crore made by them as their share in the New Pension Scheme (NPS) during the past 19 years. The Centre has stopped Himachal’s claim of matching grant of Rs 1780 crore in lieu of the NPA.
Second, the Centre has reduced the loan limit of the state by Rs 5,500 crore which may lead to a serious financial crisis and the state government may face the challenge of giving salaries, pension, etc. to its employees and pensioners on time. The Centre has also abolished three per cent exemption limit on loans procured by the government which was enhanced to five per cent during the previous BJP regime.
Third, the state was getting Rs 3,500 crore as reimbursement of compensation of the implementation of the GST by the Centre which has been stopped, thereby creating multiple problems in balancing the annual budget.
Senior Congress leaders have alleged that the Centre is punishing the people of the state as they have rejected the BJP thrice. But the BJP’s top leaders in Delhi has blamed Congress for distributing freebies to get votes which is bound to push the state in financial distress.
Political observers feel that the Centre wants to financially squeeze the Sukhu government to prove that it is inefficient and incapable of fulfilling poll guarantees. The Centre may resort to extreme step to disallow overdraft facility to crumble the normal functioning of the state government.
Another daunting task for the Himachal government pertains to its decision to mobilise resources through water cess which has been described by the Centre as unconstitutional. But the government says that cess on 172 hydel projects will mobilise the resources of Rs 4,000 crore annually which will not put any burden on the consumers. Punjab and Haryana governments have passed resolutions in their respective assemblies and refused to pay water cess which has complicated the matter.
Analysts feel that BJP is focusing on the 2024 polls. Hence, it may go to any extent to create hurdles in the path of Congress government to fulfil Assembly polls promises so that it could exploit its failures during the Lok Sabha elections to retain all four seats won in 2019.
(Writer is political analyst based in Shimla)
