Avinash Azad
Veteran legislator, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami on Wednesday raised a red flag in the Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly over what he termed a “silent surge in public debt and unjust delays in dues to retired government employees.”
The response from the UT government, while pushing back on certain figures, confirmed that public debt liabilities have indeed risen, attributing the rise to accelerated infrastructure spending and power sector bailouts.
Public Debt at ₹61,000 Crore: Tarigami’s Alarm, Govt’s Justification
In his pointed question, Tarigami asked whether J&K’s public debt had grown from 46% of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in 2013-14 to 55% in 2023, touching ₹61,000 crore, and sought steps being taken to mitigate the fiscal burden.
The government, in its reply, disputed the exact increase, stating: “The public debt of Government of J&K has increased only from 47% of GSDP in 2013-14 to 48% in 2022-23 for on-budget borrowings. The increase is mainly on account of:
– Accelerated infrastructure development;
– Borrowing to liquidate pending power purchase dues of JKPCL;
– Borrowings for completion of languishing projects under JKIDFC.
To address rising debt, the UT administration claimed it had undertaken a series of fiscal and structural measures, including:
-Doubling tax revenues from ₹6,273 crore (2013-14) to ₹12,753 crore (2022-23).
-Boosting non-tax revenues to ₹5,148 crore in 2022-23.
-Improving power billing and metering efficiencies.
-Debt restructuring and maturity extension via RBI to soften the repayment blow.
Retired Employees Waiting for Their Dues
Tarigami didn’t stop at macroeconomics. He zeroed in on a deeply human issue: the enormous delays in releasing commutation, gratuity, leave salary, and GP Fund payments—benefits that thousands of retired government employees rely on to survive.
The government offered a terse, almost bureaucratic explanation: “The bills of employees are cleared regularly as per the availability of the resources.” This vague admission has triggered concern among employee unions and pensioners’ associations, many of whom say they’ve been waiting months, even years, for their retirement dues to be processed.
“What resources are being prioritized when retirees—who gave 30 years to the system—can’t access their own GP Fund savings?” asked a retired schoolteacher, who spoke to The Hidden News on condition of anonymity.
No Relief in Commutation Rules
Tarigami also inquired about the possibility of reducing the period for recovery of commuted pension from 15 to 12 years, a step already implemented by some other states to provide better monthly pensions to retirees. But the government has ruled out any such change: “No such proposal is under consideration of the Government.”
