Kolkata: West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Tuesday accused the previous Left Front government of gross financial mismanagement putting the state on the brink of insolvency.
Addressing his maiden news conference after assuming charge, Mitra said accumulated liabilities from November, 2010, till March, 2011 stood at Rs 3,500 crore as no bills were paid from the treasury.
"A liability of Rs 3,500 crore has been thrust on the new government," he said.
Mitra said as an interim measure, the government has decided to go for market borrowings of Rs 3,000 crore and a Rs 500-crore loan from small savings, adding payment of bills would start from Wednesday.
"No sovereign government can afford to stop payment of bills," he said.
Mitra said that going by the records, it had been observed that the state was maintaining a negative treasury balance, including overdraft, from November 10, 2010 till March 09, 2011.
He said that as per RBI data, revenue deficit (RD) of the state during 2010-11 was Rs 16,441 crore, with revenue expenditure at Rs 64,014 crore and receipts at Rs 47,571 crore.
Even states like Bihar was having a revenue surplus of Rs 6,795 crore. Orissa was next to West Bengal with RD at Rs 7,655 crore.
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