State's debt burden Rs 8441.33 cr: CM

GUWAHATI, February 19: The total debt burden of Assam as on March 31, 2000 was Rs 8441.33 crore, said the Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in the State Assembly today. Replying to a question by Ardhendu Kumar Dey (Cong), the Chief Minister said that the debt of the State as on March 31, 1996 was Rs 5329.13 crore. Mahanta revealed that the total revenue collection from April, 1996 to March 31, 2000 was Rs 17524.94 crore against the target of Rs 19966.57 crore. He said that Rs 2317.79 was collected from sales tax, while Rs 297.75 was collected as agriculture income tax. During the period, the State received Rs 1167.05 crore as crude oil royalty. In reply to a question by Kalyan Kumar Gogoi (Cong), the Chief Minister said that the State Government took loan amounting to Rs 5889.66 crore from different sources including market borrowing, central loan, loans from different financial institutions and Provident Fund during the period from April 1, 1996 to January this year. Persons killed: Altogether 492 persons were killed by extremists last year and during the year 328 militants were killed by security forces, said the Chif Minister in reply to a question by ABS Jotdar. The Chief Minister said that altogether 1535 persons were apprehended last year and 371 weapons and 5266 rounds of ammunition were recovered. In reply to a question by Nazrul Islam (Cong), Mahanta said that 93 Hindi speaking people were killed in recent months by the extremist outfits like the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) and the United Peoples' Democratic Solidarity (UPDS). He said that the ULFA launched such attacks to destabilise the State Government and to draw the attention of the Central Government and the rest of the country. The Chief Minister, in reply to a question by Hemoprobha Saikia, said that 21 relatives of members of the ULFA were killed during the period from 1998 to January this year. So for two persons involved in such killings have been arrested and inquiry is on to nab the persons involved in all the killings. Mahanta said that the State Government decided to provide security to four relatives of ULFA members but two of them refused to take security. While replying to another question by Saikia, Mahanta said that the State Government spent Rs 33.01 crore during the period from 1997 to 2001 in the Unified Command operations against militants. In addition to that, an amount of Rs 1.87 crore was spent in paying ex gratia to the next of kin of the security force personnel killed in the operations.