KCR Failed State Before Finance Commission: Congress

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Treasurer Gudur Narayan Reddy alleged that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao did not represent correctly the financial needs of Telangana before the 15th Finance Commission.

"The gap between the estimated expenditure and the actual revenues from the financial year 2019-20 is expected to be around Rs 1 lakh crore per annum. Therefore Telangana needs financial assistance of at least Rs 5 lakh crore from the Centre. However, what KCR asked for from the Finance Commission was a mere Rs 50,000 crore, which is not going to help the State in the long run," Reddy said.

He also said that KCR had missed the opportunity to present before the Finance Commission a detailed list of things required to be done by the Centre for Telangana. "Instead of being 'expressive', KCR tried to be 'impressive', and wasted the opportunity. He sought Rs 40,169 crore as maintenance grant for the State's lift irrigation projects and Rs 12,722 crore for Mission Bhagiratha. No clarity was given on the funds required for other projects and schemes. A 'significant increase' was sought in grants for rural and urban bodies. When you don't specify the number, the official agencies get the liberty to fix an amount on their own," he said.

The Congress leader also slammed KCR for seeking a raise in additional borrowing facility. "Telangana already has debt of over Rs 2.50 lakh crore, which is almost 150% more than the actual revenues for one full year. If the Chief Minister is allowed to borrow more funds to bridge the revenue-expenditure gap, then Telangana will have debt of over Rs 7 lakh crore in the next five years. The State government must learn to utilise the funds it has in a judicious manner instead of resorting to huge borrowings," he said.