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Rajasthan government says it has inherited empty treasury, Rs 14 b deficit

The new Congress government in Rajasthan has inherited an almost empty treasury with a deficit of about Rs 14 billion, state Finance Minister Chandan Mal Baid has said.

Baid said the initial Rs 1 billion budgetary surplus projected by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government had already turned into a deficit of Rs 14 billion, a fact enough to highlight the miserable financial health of the state.

As the finance minister, he said he was facing a major challenge after the Reserve Bank of India sent a notice to the government about the overdraft dues.

However, he had been monitoring the situation and the government would find the means to bring back the state's economy on the right track, he said. His government was committed to fulfil all promises made in the Congress election manifesto, he reiterated.

He said the government was preparing a white paper on the overall economic health of Rajasthan which was expected to be presented in the inaugural session of the eleventh assembly, beginning January 4, 1999.

He said the document would be prepared with all accuracy and he would request Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to constitute a cabinet sub-committee to study the draft of the white paper being prepared by his department.

He said his predecessor in the previous BJP-ruled government Hari Shankar Bhabhra, while presenting the state budget for 1998-99, had estimated a surplus of Rs 1 billion. However, the BJP government had announced a number of concessions which resulted in a huge deficit of Rs 14 billion, likely to go up further by the end of the current fiscal year. Less realisation of tax revenue was another major factor for the sorry state of state finance, he said.

Baid said the government had already fulfilled three vital promises -- lowering the retirement age of the state government employees to 58 years, decision to constitute the State Human Rights Commission and the State Commission for Women -- which were made in the Congress manifesto.

Further, he said that it was a happy coincidence that the state cabinet's decision of the constitution of the SHRC and SCW came just on the eve of the 50th anniversary of universal declaration of human rights on December 10.

UNI

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