Central policies financially choking state, its development work: Kerala FM

The Centre through its various policies on borrowing was financially choking Kerala and the welfare and developmental activities it was undertaking, state Finance Minister K N Balagopal said in the Assembly on Monday.

The Minister referred to the financial restrictions by the Centre in response to a query by CPI(M) MLA I B Satheesh on how the central government was trying to weaken the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) which bankrolls the majority of developmental projects in the state.

Balagopal said that one of the means adopted by the central government to financially choke the state was by adding to its borrowings the loans taken by KIIFB and the company which takes care of social security pensions.

However, the Central government implements national highway projects through loans taken by entities like National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), but these are not added to the borrowings by the Centre, he said.

"This is the double standards of the central ...