Thiruvananthapuram: Finance Minister KN Balagopal said on Saturday that despite the Centre's attempts to “financially choke” Kerala, the state government's expenditure on development and welfare measures increased by 30-35 per cent.

Speaking to the media ahead of the upcoming Union Budget, Balagopal said the average yearly expenditure of the state under the first Pinarayi Vijayan government was around Rs 1.20 lakh crore. The state's average yearly expenditure in the second regime increased to Rs 1.60 lakh crore. "This is despite the severe financial restrictions on us, including cuts in our borrowing limits. We even implemented a pay revision. Ours was one of the few states that did it," Balagopal said.

He said that the pay revision would not have been implemented if the UDF had come to power in 2021. He further claimed that the average spending of the second LDF government would have been much higher if the expenditures by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) were also included.

The finance minister said that since 2016, KIIFB has spent around Rs 30,000 crore on development of which about Rs 20,000 crore was spent during the second LDF government's tenure.

He said that around Rs 27,000 crore has been spent on social welfare pension in the three years of the current LDF government and only about four months arrears remain to be paid.

The minister further said that the government had to pay more than the amounts allocated to each department in the budget in order to ensure the public did not face any issues.

"The government is doing all this and carrying out development work despite the Centre's attempts to financially choke us," he claimed.

Balagopal said that the government also spent more than Rs 3,000 crore out of its pocket on initiatives like the National Health Mission (NHM), Anganwadis and ASHA on behalf of the Centre which is yet to reimburse the amount.

The minister said that in view of the financial restrictions by the Centre, priorities would be restructured but there would not be any huge cuts in spending.

He said preference would be given to general public needs, employment generation, labour and necessary works. The minister also reiterated the requests made by the state to the Centre during the pre-budget meeting held in June in the national capital.

He said that the Centre has been requested to announce a special package of Rs 24,000 crore for the southern state in the Union Budget 2024-25.

He said the amount sought was actually what was cut from the state's borrowing limits in the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24. "We asked for what we were entitled to," he added.

Balagopal, in the press conference, also said that the state urgently needed a special capital investment of Rs 5,000 crore for fulfilling Kerala's part in the development of the Vizhinjam port and the surrounding region.

He also pointed out that Kerala was the only state which had spent 25 per cent of the land acquisition cost of the National Highway widening, which amounted to around Rs 6,000 crore.

Besides these, the minister also referred to the state's long pending demand for establishing an AIIMS in Kerala.
(With PTI inputs)