The Hindu Business Line : World Bank has imposed no conditions on us: Rosaiah

THE World Bank has imposed no conditions whatsoever on the State Government for giving assistance and any of the decisions taken by the Government cannot be attributed to the bank and "this fact has been made doubly clear by the World Bank President himself," said Mr K. Rosaiah, the State Finance Minister.

Mr Rosaiah was interacting with newspersons in the newly inaugurated factory of Velagapudi Steels at Sampatpuram near Anakapalle in Visakhapatnam district on Friday.

When the comments of some of the leftist groups on the issue were brought to his notice, Mr Rosaiah said, "The visit of the World Bank President was fixed well in advance. The ban on the Maoists was necessitated by some of the recent events in the State such as the killing of an MLA and nine others in Telanagana. "I cannot understand how the two can be related. Anyway, Mr Wolfowitz himself made it clear yesterday in Hyderabad that there were no strings attached to the assistance. That should settle it."

On the ban imposed on Maoists, he said the Congress Government had done its best to conduct talks with them and bring them into the mainstream of politics. He said the State is trying its best to exercise fiscal discipline and bring down the revenue deficit in accordance with the directions of the Twelfth Finance Commission. "It is projected that the revenue deficit will be of the order of Rs 1,400 crore during the financial year, but I am doing my best to reduce it further. Last year (2004-2005), a deficit of Rs 1,900 crore was projected, but I could bring it down to Rs 1,400 crore," he claimed.

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