Subsidies have to be rationalised

INTERVIEW SUKHVINDER SINGH SUKHU HIMACHAL PRADESH CHIEF MINISTER

- SONI MISHRA

HIMACHAL PRADESH Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu recently announced that he, his ministers, chief parliamentary secretaries, and chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of boards and corporations would defer drawing their salaries for two months. It immediately put the focus on the finances of the hill state, which are not in the pink. In an exclusive interview, Sukhu says the state had already moved from a stage of financial crisis to financial discipline and fiscal prudence. Excerpts:

Q/ Is Himachal Pradesh going through a financial crisis?
A/ The financial crisis was because of the freebies announced by the BJP government. In April 2022, before the assembly elections, it made electricity up to 125 units free, waived off water bills and announced a discount of 50 per cent on fare for women travelling by state buses. There was a debt of more than ₹85,000 crore and a liability of ₹10,000 crore towards arrears to be paid to the employees as per the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. We spend ₹25,000 crore on salaries of government employees every year. Our total budget is ₹52,000 crore. The freebies announced by the BJP government made the situation worse.

Q/ What is your government doing to deal with the financial crunch?
A/ We were in a financial crunch in 2022 - 23. We are bringing the economy back. We earned 2,200 additional revenue in a year.