New Delhi: Chief Minister Narendra Modi's Gujarat government bears the third highest burden after West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, says a media report.
While Gujarat's actual debt was Rs 1,38,978 cr as on March 2012 and is projected to touch Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2013-14, it is preceded by only two other states: West Bengal (Rs 1.92 lakh crore) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 1.58 lakh crore), says the report.
Modi had recently remarked that he has repaid Gujarat Mata's debt and now wants to repay Bharat Mata's debt, indicating his willingness to try to take a shot at India's topmost executive post.
But actually, Gujarat's debt was Rs 45,301 cr in 2001-02, when Modi took over, and it has now multiplied nearly four times in the last 11 years.
Divided among Gujarat's six crore population, it comes to a debt of Rs 23,163 per capita. Gujarat government pays Rs 34.50 cr interest every day to repay this debt.
By 2015-16, Gujarat's debt may go up to Rs 2,07,695 crore, says the report. Gujarat's debt was less than Rs 10,000 cr when the BJP came to power in 1995. Much of the spending is on showpiece infrastructure projects, while spendings on health and other social sectors are low.
Gujarat imposes the highest VAT on petrol, and is among the few states in India which imposes VAT on fertilizer.
