BHOPAL, Dec 30: Madhya Pradesh has urged the Centre to defer the payment of a loan it had taken from the Government of India to help it deal more effectively with natural calamities.A letter submitted by Chief Minister Digvijay Singh to Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral on Sunday says the year had started for the State with drought and drinking water problems, followed by a severe earthquake in Jabalpur and the surrounding areas in May, heavy floods in Rewa, Balaghat, Sidhi and Satna districts in September, and then hailstorms in November-December.
The letter adds that the State Government is facing a severe resource crunch, the growth rate of taxes having slowed down ``due to the general recession in the economy''.
Singh also complains that the State has not been getting its dues from the Central Government.
The chief minsiter points out that during the current financial year, the State has already repaid Rs 724 crore as principal and also the interest on the amount up to December 1997, leaving a
balance of only Rs 344 crore for the last quarter. An amount of Rs 1,433 crore has now to be repaid during 1998-99.
The letter states: ``Since we will need at least one year to bring the situation to normal, I would request the Government of India that the interest should be waived and the recovery of the principal amount be deferred for at least one year.''
The Chief Minister, who released the letter to the Press yesterday, said the State needed Rs 1,260 crore to meet the burden of natural calamities and only a meagre assistance had been provided by the Centre.
He referred to the waiving of a Rs 8,000-crore loan to Punjab, adding that Madhya Pradesh did not want that kind of a let-off but only that the recovery of dues to the Centre be deferred by one year.
The MP chief minister also urged the Centre to extend the concessions already allowed to Punjab and Haryana in the levy of paddy to Madhya Pradesh.
Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
