Himachal debt trap: Jai Ram Thakur says salary delay a recurrent thing

Shimla: BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday said that Himachal Pradesh would soon be too debt-wrecked to pay the salaries of its employees, as he attacked the Sukhvinder Sukhu government for deferring wages of several employees, including the chief minister's.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had on Thursday in the Vidhan Sabha said that the government would be deferring the salaries of ministers, chief parliamentary secretaries, and chairpersons and vice chairpersons of boards and corporations for two months, citing the state's "grim financial situation." Thakur, a former Himachal Pradesh chief minister, said the deferment was not going to be a one-off incident.

"Soon the salaries of the employees will be delayed frequently and finally the government will say that it has no money to pay the salaries," Thakur told PTI Videos here.

Thakur said the state government has raised loans of around Rs 24,000 crore over the past 20 months and if it continues at the same pace, it will end up with a debt of Rs 1 lakh crore by the end of the financial year.

Sukhu has often accused the previous BJP government of sending the state in poor financial health by saddling it with a debt of Rs 19,600 crore carried forward from its tenure.

Thakur, however, claimed that while his government raised that sum over five years, the Congress dispensation racked up a far higher debt, in fewer months.

The Himachal Pradesh government has raised Rs 21,366 crore in loans in the past 20 months and repaid Rs 5,864 crore, Sukhu had informed Vidhan Sabha on Friday.