Srinager: MLA Pulwama Waheed Para has raised serious concerns over the design and long-term implications of the Special Assistance Scheme for Capital Investment (SASCI), calling for clarity and accountability from the highest level of the government.
While acknowledging the confidence placed by the elected government in SASCI, Para said the scheme’s structure itself warrants scrutiny.“SASCI may appear to be an easy mechanism to keep funds flowing, but ease should not be mistaken for responsibility. A loan even if interest-free remains a loan, and deferred repayment does not erase the burden; it merely transfers it to future generations,”he said.Drawing an analogy, Para remarked that leaving behind development backed by debt is akin to“handing over a grand house along with a mountain of unpaid liabilities for one’s children to clear.”The MLA pointed out that Jammu and Kashmir continues to face limited revenue growth and deep-rooted structural economic challenges.“In such a context, accumulating long-term liabilities without parallel efforts to strengthen sustainable income streams is fiscally risky and short-sighted,”he cautioned.
Concluding, the MLA warned against what he termed“superficial development built on mounting liabilities.”“Such measures may look impressive on paper today, but it is tomorrow’s generation that will be forced to pay the price,”he said.
