Kerala's financial crisis artificially created by Centre, alleges Finance Minister Balagopal

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on Monday accused the Centre of adopting a stand against the country’s federal structure and said it was the reason for the acute financial crisis the state has been suffering for some time.

It is a “financial plight” artificially created by the Union Government; state Finance Minister K N Balagopal alleged.

Replying to a question in the Assembly, he said the resource mobilisation initiatives of the state government were severely impacted as the Centre is treating the funds raised and spent by KIIFB as part of Kerala’s overall borrowing.

But the state government has not imposed any restrictions on granting funds to the projects sanctioned by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), he said.

The KIIFB is a government agency in Kerala that finances infrastructure projects by raising funds from the markets.

“Kerala has been reeling under an acute financial crisis due to the anti-federal stand adopted by the Centre,” Balagopal alleged.

Despite all these adverse situations, the KIIFB could spend Rs 29,100 crore on various projects, the minister said.

He admitted that KIIFB’s activities were progressing at a slow pace now due to adverse factors, but rejected allegations that the execution of its projects was at a standstill.

The Left government aimed at implementing infrastructure projects to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore through KIIFB. So far, 1,110 projects worth Rs 86,143.49 crore have been sanctioned by the board in various sectors, including tourism, transportation, education, IT, health, and so on, he added.