Deputy CLP leader in the Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir said against the budget's provision of Rs 100,637 crores, so far only Rs 21,728 crores were released.
Deputy CLP leader in the Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir has demanded an explanation from the State Government for the non-release of funds allocated in Telangana's budget for the year 2014-15.
Speaking to media persons in the Assembly premises on Saturday, Shabbir Ali said that as against the budget's provision of Rs 1,00,637 crores for the year 2014-15, so far only Rs 21,728 crores had been released.
Furnishing the details, he said that the Government had so far issued 1,125 Budget Release Orders for 114 Heads of Departments releasing an amount of Rs 21,728.99 crores.
He said that Telangana's budget was meant for 10 months, from June 2014 to March 2015. However, the government had released only 22% of the funds so far. He sought to know when and how the remaining 78% of the allocated funds would be released.
Shabbir Ali said that the Congress had expressed doubts when the TRS Government introduced a Rs 1 lakh crores plus budget. But Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had given an assurance that his government would release the allocated amounts. However, the statistics clearly showed that the apprehensions of Congress were not wrong.
He expressed doubts over the release of the remaining funds before the end of the financial year 2014-15 in March 2015.
The Congress leader said that the government did not adopt a clear strategy for the planned release of funds and their effective utilisation. Except for Agriculture, Rural Development and Energy, no department got adequate funds.
Of the Rs 4,763.33 crores released for Agriculture Department, Rs 4,250 crores were meant for the payment of first installment of the crop loan waiver scheme. Therefore, the real spending on the agriculture sector was a mere Rs 513 crores, he alleged.
Similarly, as against the allocation of Rs 2,022 crores for BC Welfare, only Rs 473 crores were released. Likewise, of Rs 1,030 crores for Minorities Welfare, only Rs 174.84 crores were released; of Rs 7,579.45 crores for the SC Sub-Plan, only Rs 590.34 crores were released; and although the allocation under the ST Sub-Plan for Tribal Welfare was Rs 4,559.81 crores, the government had so far released only Rs 293.23 crores, he said.
Shabbir Ali said that even after one month of the passing of the Appropriation Bill, several departments were still waiting for the allocated funds to be released.
He asked Finance Minister Etala Rajender to either issue a White Paper or offer an explanation for the delay in the non-release of funds, and give the plans to spend remaining 78% funds in the next three months.
The Congress leader also pulled up the government for the delay in releasing the list of drought-hit mandals in Telangana.
He said that the State Government had already admitted in the Assembly on November 20 that 332 of the 459 mandals in Telangana had received deficient rainfall. A committee had also been constituted to work on declaration of deserving mandals as drought-hit. However, no follow-up action was taken, he alleged.
Shabbir Ali said that the declaration of mandals as drought-hit would enable the affected farmers get the required assistance, claim insurance and seek re-scheduling of their loans.
Claiming that lakhs of farmers had lost their crops due to the drought conditions, he cited the instance of Kamareddy Ganj where no auctions were held for the last two months due to the non-arrival of crops including maize, soyabean and paddy.
He urged the Government to expedite the process of declaration of deserving mandals as drought-affected. (INN)