Bhatti Presents Rs 2.91 Lakh Crore Telangana Budget For 2024-25

Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka today presented the Telangana government's full-scale budget for the financial year 2024-25 with an outlay of Rs 2,91,159 crore.

The revenue expenditure was proposed at Rs 2,20,945 crore and the capital expenditure at Rs 33,487 crore.

Compared to the Vote On Account budget of Rs 2.76 lakh crore presented by the State government in February earlier this year, this current budget is higher by Rs 15,000 crore.

In his budget speech, Vikramarka, who also holds the finance portfolio, said that the debt which was at Rs 75,577 crore at the time of Telangana State's creation grew by leaps and bounds in 10 years and had reached a humungous figure of Rs 6,71,751 crore.

"We have focused our immediate attention on the repayment of the loans. Since the formation of the Congress government, we have raised loans of Rs 35,118 crore, while we have repaid loans of Rs 42,892 crore. In effect, we have repaid Rs 7,774 crore," Vikramarka said.

In the budget allocations, the State government gave the highest priority to the agriculture and allied sectors with an allocation of Rs 72,659 crore, followed by Rs 29,816 crore for Panchayath Raj and Rural Development, and Rs 22,301 crore for Irrigation. Around Rs 21,292 crore have been set aside for education, followed by Rs 19,080 crore for Animal Husbandry, Rs 11,468 crore for Medical Health, Rs 10,000 crore for Hyderabad's development and Rs 500 crore for the Old City Metro project.

However, there are no major allocations for the implementation of the six guarantees promised by the Congress during the Assembly elections to the people, except for Rs 2,418 crore for the Gruha Jyothi Scheme and Rs 723 crore for the subsidised LPG cylinder scheme.