NEW DELHI: Indian Punjab government portrayed loans as the state’s revenue, According to the report of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).
It says the Punjab government, in order to avoid routing borrowings through the budget, showed loans raised by the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) by mortgaging government properties as revenue receipt. “PUDA raised a loan of Rs 2,000 crore from various banks from the properties transferred to it by the government under the optimum utilization of vacant government land (OUVGL) scheme. PUDA deposited Rs 1,000 crore in 2012-13 and the remaining Rs 1,000 crore in 2013-14 in the government account under the head — miscellaneous government services,” it says.
It adds that this resulted in overstatement of revenue receipts in 2012-13 by Rs 1,000 crore, thereby bringing the revenue deficit down by the same amount. “In 2013-14, the state government incurred an expenditure of Rs 176 crore on PUDA under the heads of housing, urban housing and grants-in-aid. This was shown as revenue expenditure but the revenue deficit was still understated by Rs 823 crore, out of the Rs 1,000 crore deposited into the government account this year,” it says.
On being pointed out, the report says the finance department, in its reply in November 2014, said PUDA deposited the amount of Rs 2,000 crore against the government land transferred to it and it was accounted for as per the accounting system. However, the CAG has termed the reply not acceptable. “The orders issued by the department of finance directing PUDA to deposit Rs 2,000 crore in government account did not mention that the amount was against lands transferred to it. Rather, the orders clearly stated that the amount would be raised as loans by PUDA and for repayment of the loan, the state government would release funds to PUDA for onward payment to the bank concerned,” the CAG report adds.
