Ramadoss blames TN Govt for more burden on people

“Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has written a letter to her party cadres to explain the sacrifices made by her ahead of the forthcoming assembly election. But during the last five years the regime has imposed a huge burden on the common man in spite of her claim that she had toiled for the masses”, Ramadoss said in a press statement. “She claims that her government has worked for each and every member of the family who has received assistance and concessions through various government schemes. 

But in contrast after taking over as chief minister she has been responsible for raising the cost of various essential items   like milk, services like public transport and utilities like electricity which has contributed nearly  Rs 20,000 crore to the exchequer. She even imposed a hike in taxes before the first budget to raise another Rs 4,200 crore through an increase in VAT charges. In the following year the government raised guideline value for lands and property to the tune of Rs 5,000 crores. 

In 2014 another round of hike in electricity tariff helped the government to mop up Rs 7,350 crore. All such measures have led to a total revenue generation of Rs 1.57 lakh crore over the last five years. The regime has not spared liquor and the prices have soared. It earned Rs 1.90 lakh crore through such a revision. “ Despite all this resource mobilisation, the government has heavily borrowed Rs 1.10 lakh crore as direct loans, public debt of Rs 1.40 lakh crore and finally incurred  Rs 60,000  per capita debt for the state population. The state stood 20th among twentyone big states in terms of growth, ranked lower in several sectors. “Is this a growth model as claimed by the regime?” Ramadoss asked.