The Congress-led Opposition UDF on Wednesday pulled up the LDF government for poor plan spending, pointing out that only a few days more were left for the close of the 2024-25 financial year.
Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan, citing Planspace data, said that plan expenditure was a mere 54.22% as on Wednesday.
Despite the State government’s claims to an outstanding performance, this was the situation with just 12 days to go for the financial year to end, Mr. Satheesan said during the discussion which followed the introduction of the Kerala Finance Bill and the motion to refer it to the Subject Committee.
Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal countered the charge saying that the treasury outgo on plan expenditure was 73.01%. In the case of the Local Self Government Department alone, the outgo was 94.48%, he said.
On Wednesday, the government also faced criticism from the Opposition for outstanding bills towards the end of the financial year. P.C. Vishnunadh of the Congress said that 50,131 bills were pending with the LSG Department. Mr. Balagopal countered that it is not a big number as far as the LSGD was concerned, and would be settled soon.
Published – March 19, 2025 07:40 pm IST