Won’t beg for CCL anymore: Manpreet
Wednesday, 05/04/2017
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/community/won-t-beg-for-ccl-anymore-manpreet/387236.html
Chandigarh : Irked over making repeated requests to the Centre for releasing cash credit limit (CCL) for the procurement of foodgrain, the Punjab Government has decided to ask the Union Government well in advance about the quantity of foodgrain it intended to procure from the state.
Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said the government was not prepared to beg for CCL every time. “On getting approximate estimate from the Centre, we will tell our farmers that they should grow that much paddy and wheat for the central pool. For growing alternative crops such as maize etc the state government will extend all necessary support to the farmers. Diversification is the need of hour and we will go for it,” he said. For the past many days, the state government has been repeatedly reaching out to the Centre to get CCL released. State Finance Secretary Anirudh Tiwari had also met the Union Finance Ministry authorities yesterday. Notably, during the UPA government’s tenure, the state did not face any problem in this regard.
Manpreet said the previous SAD-BJP government made a blunder by accepting that the state was to pay Rs 31,000 crore to settle the food account. “What is most disturbing is the fact that this amount includes Rs 18,000 crore as interest which is being charged at the rate of 11 per cent,” he said.
The principal amount was little more than Rs 12,000 crore. How the Centre could charge 11 per cent interest on the amount that was disputed and was yet to be settled. In any case it should not be more than 6-7 per cent. “We are exploring various options to get this case reopened. We will either press for the appointment of an arbitrator or take legal recourse,” said Manpreet, adding that the state had decided to conduct a third party audit to find out who defaulted in settling the food account since 2006-07, leading to a heavy fiscal burden on the state. The state had already paid three installments of Rs 270 crore each to the Centre,” he said.
When the banks were waiving bad loans of corporate houses, charging Rs 18,000 crore interest from the state which had been contributing 40 per cent foodgrain to the central pool was not only illogical, but also a case of biased treatment, he added.
