GUWAHATI, March 8 � The State at present has an estimated loan burden of Rs 22881.02 crore and as of date, the per capita loan burden of the State is Rs 8,280. This was stated by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in reply to a starred question from Prabin Gogoi in the State Assembly today. The Chief Minister holds the Finance Portfolio too.
The State is to pay Rs 14,054.84 crore as interest on the amounts it has borrowed from various sources. The year wise break up of the interest amounts it has paid since the 2001-02 fiscal stands as - Rs 1061.99 crore in 2001-02, Rs 1244.74 crore in 2002-03, Rs 1446.10 crore in 2003-04, Rs 1403.53 crore in 2004-05, Rs 1510.12 crore in 2005-06, Rs 1515.67 crore in 2006-07, Rs 1512.23crore in 2007-08, Rs 1593.33 crore in 2008-09 and Rs 1820.07 crore in 2009-10.
The amounts it has been borrowing in each of the financial years have been spent on the schemes implemented under the State plans, said the Chief Minister.
Police modernisation: Since the 2001-02 financial year, the State has received an amount of Rs 42769.06 lakh from the Central Government for modernization of its police force. Of this amount, it has spent Rs 34663.34 lakh so far for the purpose. This was stated by Minister Rokybul Hussain in a written reply to a question from Phani Bhusan Choudhury (AGP) in the State Assembly today.
It also spent an amount of Rs 36, 67, 45,000.00 for the purpose from its own Budget in 2001-02. In 2002-03 fiscal, it spent an amount of Rs 39,06,71,000.00, followed by Rs 14,83,32,000.00 in 2003-04, Rs 5,37,62,336.00 in 2004-05, Rs 2,22,63,845.00 in 2005-06, Rs 15,02, 99, 575.00 in 2006-07, Rs 66,13,24,727.00 in 2007-08, Rs 45,14,90,073.00 in 2008-09 and Rs 16,07,44,976.00 in 2009-10 from its own Budget for the purpose, said the Minister.
The Government has spent so far an amount of Rs 98, 22,384.00 for repairs and renovation of the office buildings of the Superintendents of Police of the districts. Of the police stations in the State 248 have land line telephone connections and of them 34 were reported to be out of order till February 28 last
Of the police outposts, 114 are provided land line telephone connections and 101 are yet to get such connections. Due to non-payment of telephone bills, 63 of these telephones are disconnected, said the Minister.
The Government is spending an amount of about Rs 4 crore annually to provide personal security officers (PSOs) to 206 people none of whom is a Member of Parliament or the Assembly, the Minister said.
