Bhatti Slams Union Budget For Ignoring Telangana

Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka today said that it was unjust that Telangana received no allocations in the Rs 53.47 lakh crore Union Budget presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

He said that despite Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Cabinet ministers and Members of Parliament submitting representations to the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister seeking support for the State's development, there was a complete absence of allocations.

Speaking at a media conference at Praja Bhavan, Vikramarka said that the State had expected Central funding for key projects including the Musi river rejuvenation, the Regional Ring Road, Hyderabad city development, the Metro Rail expansion, and other infrastructure works.

"When bio-pharma is discussed, the Centre should first think of Telangana. The failure to include the State in the bio-pharma allocations is extremely disappointing," he said.

Calling Hyderabad a globally recognised pharma hub, he recalled that Bharat Biotech supplied vaccines to the country and the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had personally visited the facility. Yet Telangana was not mentioned in the pharma hub initiatives, he lamented.

He added that despite the State's focus on sports and hosting international events under the Vision 2047 plan, it was ignored in the respective allocations.

He also said that the Budget had allocated Rs 40,000 crore for electronics but not even a single rupee to Telangana, despite Hyderabad having a well-developed electronics ecosystem.

He alleged that Hyderabad-centric activities under the Orange Economy too were shifted to Mumbai. "Hyderabad is a major centre for multimedia, gaming and comics. Ignoring it is unjustified," he said.

Vikramarka also said that although Hyderabad was emerging as a medical hub attracting patients from across India and abroad, Telangana was excluded from the Regional Medical Value Hub initiative.

He alleged that the Centre had neglected Telangana in the rare earth minerals sector as well, even though Singareni Collieries was already processing rare earth minerals, including scandium and lithium.

Despite Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Industries Minister Sridhar Babu personally meeting the Prime Minister and seeking approval for a semiconductor unit, the projects were allotted to other States, reflecting a step-motherly attitude towards Telangana, he added.