The Telangana government has almost finalised a budget of Rs 1.10 lakh crores for 2015-16, to be presented during the budget session starting March 7.
The Telangana government has almost finalised an annual budget of Rs 1.10 lakh crores for the year 2015-16, to be presented by Finance Minister Etela Rajender during the budget session starting from March 7.
The Finance Minister will present the first full-fledged budget for the new state of Telangana on March 11.
Last year, on November 5, he had presented a budget of Rs 1,00,637 crores for a period of 10 months. It comprised of Rs 47,648.47 crores under Plan and Rs 51,989.40 crores under Non-Plan expenditure. However, the state government, as on March 2, could spend only Rs 32,187 crores. It included clearing debts of nearly Rs 18,000 crores, like the first installment of Rs 4,250 crores towards the waiver of crop loans.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao held several brainstorming sessions during the last weekend with the officials of the finance and other relevant departments to adopt a realistic approach towards the forthcoming budget.
It has been decided to make higher allocations to irrigation, agriculture and allied sectors, electricity, education and welfare.
The budget exercise was done in accordance with the estimated revenues through stamps & registrations, excise, VAT and other resources.
The Chief Minister has reportedly shortlisted 10 priority areas, which include irrigation, Mission Kakatiya, Water Grid, roads, Haritha Haram, energy, land distribution, nutrition, subsidised rice, Kalyana Lakshmi, Shaadi Mubarak, KG-to-PG free education and weaker section housing.
The government is likely to make substantial allocations to ensure generation of 6,000 MW of power in the next three years.
KCR is also exploring options to carry forward the unspent allocated amounts of 2014-15, for the welfare sector in next year's budget. (INN)