With the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance taking charge at New Delhi, the Punjab government is hopeful of relief over its debt burden. Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son, deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, met finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday, his very first day at work. Punjab, along with West Bengal and Kerala, has for long been asking for an additional central support for the state. The deputy chief minister said “we are optimistic the Centre will be sympathetic to our needs” after a very brief meeting in Jaitley’s chamber at the ministry. Incidentally the finance minister had also fought this general elections unsuccessfully, from Amritsar. Sukhbir Badal said Punjab has also put forward its demand with the Fourteenth Finance Commission. “We have asked the Commission to increase the share of taxes to states,” he told reporters. Punjab’s total outstanding debt was estimated at Rs 1,02,282 crore in FY 14. He also said that similar demands for debt relief by West Bengal and Kerala too should be looked into by the Centre. The BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal alliance are in power in the state and now after the general elections, are partners of the NDA government at the centre. Sukhbir Badal said the Centre should account for the fact that Punjab ran up its debt burden when it was fighting militancy in the state. “We were doing it on behalf of the Centre,” he said. While clearing the state budget earlier this year, Punjab finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa had also expressed hope that a debt relief from the NDA government will come through. As part of its mandate, the Finance Commission led by former Reserve Bank of India governor YV Reddy was also asked to review the impact of debt levels on resource availability in debt stressed states, for the five year period from April 2015.
