Senior Congress leader Shabbir Ali today criticised the Telangana Budget as being "illusory", "deceptive", "misleading" and "far-removed" from reality.
Senior Congress leader and former minister Mohammed Shabbir Ali today described the Budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year, presented by Finance Minister T Harish Rao in the state Assembly, as "illusory", "deceptive", "misleading" and "far-removed" from reality.
Claiming that the proposed budget was completely ignorant of Telangana's real economic situation, the leader thundered, "It is ridiculous that the TRS government is proposing to spend over Rs 2.32 lakh crore when it has revenues of less than Rs 1.20 lakh crore. The revenues through taxes and duties in 2018-19 and 2019-20 were Rs 83,234.95 crore and Rs 83,585.08 crore respectively, and the revised estimate of the same for 2020-21 stands at Rs 87,926.90 crore. However, the Government expects revenues to miraculously grow by Rs 18,973.23 crore and reach Rs 1,06,900.13 crore in the year 2021-22. It also seems to be expecting an increase in non-tax revenues from Rs 19,305.58 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 30,557.35 crore in 2021-22, and a spike in Grant-in-Aid of Rs 28,144.10 crore, from Rs 10,525.36 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 38,669.46 crore in 2021-22. How can a budget proposal be based on such fancies?"
"The total revenue receipts for 2018-19, Rs 1.01 lakh crore, increased by about Rs 1,100 crore to Rs 1.02 lakh crore in 2019-20. Though these figures do not promise huge increases this year either, the TRS government has estimated that the total revenues for 2020-21 will somehow rise to Rs 1.17 lakh crore. With just 13 days left for the end of the current fiscal year, this is hardly likely due to various factors. Further, our government has displayed reckless over optimism by estimating that the total revenues for 2021-22 will hit Rs 1.76 lakh crore, seeing an increase of a whopping Rs. 58,369.10 crore, without actually explaining how this will come about," he said.
Shabbir Ali also claimed that budget figures clearly showed how the TRS government was planning to "burden" the common man with an additional Rs 30,225 crore in taxes by introducing new taxes and increasing existing ones in the coming financial year.
Citing the government's decision to take more loans, he said, "Despite the lack of clarity regarding how it will mobilise Grant-in-Aid of Rs 38,669.46 crore, the government is planning to borrow another Rs. 49,300 crore."
The Congress leader then said that the state government should have adopted a more "realistic approach" in drafting the budget, and added, "Managing a state's economy is no different from running a house wherein the head of the family plans expenditures in a judicious manner by taking into account the overall income of the household. As no house can sustain itself in the long run by taking huge high-interest loans, similarly no state can progress by pushing its people under a huge mountain of debt in the same fashion. Telangana is already spending nearly Rs 10,000 crore towards paying off its existing loans. This shows how the government's hastily planned monetary moves can have a negative impact on the future generations of the state."
With regard to the double bedroom housing scheme, he pointed out that Finance Minister T Harish Rao's allocation this year was an admission of the state government's failure to construct the promised one lakh houses in Hyderabad.
"Before the GHMC elections last year, ministers K T Rama Rao and Talasani Srinivas Yadav made false claims that one lakh 2BHK units had been constructed in Hyderabad alone. But today, the Finance Minister admitted that so far, only 52,456 double bedrooms have been completed in rural and urban areas in the state. He did not specify when the remaining units, out of the 2.75 lakh promised houses, would be completed. He simply allocated more money to the scheme, inadvertently reiterating the government's failure to fulfil its free housing promise," Shabbir Ali said.
Commenting on the overall "inadequacy" of the budget, he claimed, "All in all, the people of our state have been given a raw deal in this year's budget. No new development scheme has been announced, and there was no mention of extending the metro rail to the Old City. No amount has been earmarked for land acquisition for the metro rail project either."
"Additionally, there has been no substantial increase in the budget for the welfare of the SCs, STs, BCs and minorities. The TRS regime is cheating the minorities. This year only Rs 1,602 crore have been allocated for the welfare of the disadvantaged communities in the state. That is less than 39% of the total budget. The ruling party has distracted the people from this truth by hyping its Rs 2,000 crore spending on the communities' welfare. In reality, however, the spending did not even reach 50% of the total allocations. The government should ensure that the lapsed amount from the previous year is used this year at least," the leader added.
He also put forth the demand that the TRS regime ensure that 100% of the funds in the state's budget be spent in line with the proposal, especially the amounts allocated for the welfare of the minorities, SC, ST, BC and other weaker sections.