TS not willing to repay loans or interst: AP

Hyderabad, April 30 , 2015: Governments of AP and TS, already locked in battle over sharing of Krishna and Godavari river waters , have now extended their battle to the issue of repayment of interest on undivided loans. While TS Government has continued to avoid payment of interest on undivided loans with an argument that loans were not utilised for any developmental works on Telangana soil, AP Government has been consistently paying the interest on loans raised from foreign and Indian monetary institutions and started asking TS to repay the loans and its interests. Fed up with the stance of TS Government. the AP Government has complained to the Account General whose office is not yet bifurcated. The united AP Government had taken loans worth Rs.8928 Cr from foreign financial institutions and Rs.8737 Cr from the Centre amounting to total of Rs.17, 665 Cr. The net worth of loans has also not been divided between the two states due to objections from both. The issue has been hanging in the air after TS objected to allocation of loans on the basis of region for which the loans were raised in some cases. On the other hand, AP has been arguing that the loan funds were uitlised for the development of Hyderabad city. The Account General has indicated that he will soon convene a meeting of the Chief Secretaries of AP and TS to resolve the issue.