Gandhinagar, Mar 10 (IANS): On the first day of the discussion on the Budget in the Gujarat Assembly on Wednesday, the Congress attacked the Vijay Rupani-led government saying that the state's increasing debt was because of the BJP's policies, which were being directed from its party headquarters 'Kamalam'.

The debt of the state has increased from around Rs 13,000 crore in 1994 to Rs 2.43 lakh crore in the current year.

Addressing the House, deputy leader of the Congress Shailesh Parmar said, "Each Gujarati has a debt of Rs 49,600." Sharing the details of the debt increase under each Chief Minister starting with Chhabil Mehta, Parmar said that the debt has been increasing at rocket speed, and due to this the citizens of Gujarat are under debt.

Regarding the claims of 'Steadfast Gujarat', Parmar taunted, "The education mafia are steadfast, white-collar goons are steadfast, land mafia are steadfast and atrocities on Dalits are steadfast, horse-trading is steadfast and anti-social elements are steadfast." Parmar added, "It is a fact that the state's debt has been increased steadfast."

"From 1995 to 2021, the debt has been increasing, and the debt is more than the estimate in Budgets," said Parmar.

Reacting to Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel's accusations that the opposition was not appreciating the indigenous vaccines developed in the country, Parmar said the vaccines were not made in the state headquarters 'Kamalam'.

"EVMs are not made in Kamalam, Vaccines are not made in Kamalam, but debt has been increasing due to Kamalam."

"During the tenure of former Chief Minister Chhabil Mehta, the state debt was Rs 12,990 crore, during Keshubhai Patel's time, it was Rs 14,800 crore, during Narendra Modi's tenure, the debt has increased to Rs 1,20,751 crore. Now in 2021, the debt has climbed to Rs 2,43,460 crore," Parmar told the House.

"In the last 5 years, the state government has paid Rs 86,120 crore loan interest, capital of that is Rs 61,055 crore," Parmar said. In the last five years, the state government has taken a loan of Rs 1,44,951 crore," said Parmar.

He said that atrocities on women have increased, incidents of child kidnapping are increasing and every single child being born in the state has a debt of Rs 49,600.