Punjab govt to come out with white paper on debt: Amarinder

Punjab is reeling under a debt of around Rs 2.5 lakh crore, much higher than the anticipated Rs 1.5 lakh crore, and this will come out in the white paper being produced by June ahead of the budget presentation, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh said today.

He said that the state was working out the farm debt waiver as promised earlier and the government is working out details as it intends to come out with a "meaningful" loan waiver unlike Uttar Pradesh, whose scheme he termed as a "mere gimmick".

"One must understand the financial health of Punjab. We thought we were about 1.5 lakh crore in debt. We are coming out with a white paper which is being produced on the state's finances and my guess is we are going to end up with Rs 2.5 lakh crore debt.

"There are a lot of hidden issues which will only come to light in the white paper. Instead of Rs 1.5 lakh crore, it is going to be Rs 2.50 lakh crore. Now you can imagine a state which is already bankrupt. Rs 26,000 crore is the revenue deficit alone and how do we function? These are the problems we are going to face financially," he told

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)