Telangana Budget Illusionary And Directionless: Congress

Congress MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy described Telangana's budget for 2023-24 presented by Finance Minister T Harish Rao in the Assembly today as illusionary and directionless.

Reddy said that the proposed expenditure of Rs 2.9 lakh crore was completely unrealistic as it did not match the State's revenues.

"For the first time in history, the finance minister's speech had no mention of estimated revenues. He did not specify whether the budget was surplus or deficit," he said.

The MP said that there was no uniformity in the allocation of funds, and that all major sectors remained neglected. For instance, he said, the allocation in the budget for the health department was only 4.18%. Similarly, secondary education got just 5.54% and higher education got just 1.03%.

He also said that the budget had not make any provision to clear the pending fee reimbursement and scholarship dues of over Rs 3,200 crore, and that a meagre Rs 3,001 crore had been allocated for the entire higher education department.

He also pointed out that there was no mention of the monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 3,016 which KCR had promised to all the jobless youth.

He further said that an amount of only Rs 17,700 crore had been allocated for the Dalit Bandhu scheme, when there were nearly 17 lakh poor dalit families in Telangana, with the result that this budget would not cover even 10% of the families.

He also said that an insufficient amount had been allocated for sheep distribution.

Reddy also pointed out that the Finance Minister had not mentioned anything about the waiver of crop loans. He said that the Chief Minister had promised a waiver of farm loans of up to Rs 1 lakh to Telangana farmers on 2nd December 2018. However, crop loans of only up to Rs 35,000 had been cleared in the last four years.

"This was the last budget of the BRS government, and it failed to honour these promises. The Congress had demanded Rs 20,000 crore for the completion of the Rs 1 lakh loan waiver for all farmers of Telangana as more than 20 lakh farmers and their families are still waiting for it. However, the finance minister has again disappointed the farmers of Telangana," he said.

Reddy ridiculed Rao's claims of economic development in Telangana. He said that the finance minister did not mention anything about the debt of over Rs 5 lakh crore of Telangana, and the impact of the high interest and repayments on the State's economy.

"In fact, Rao dedicated his entire speech to praising the Chief Minister. The budget speech is considered the most sacred document for any State or country as it gives a detailed account of present economic status and future plans. However, Rao's speech lacked vision and direction. It was no more than a regular political speech delivered in praise of CM KCR," he lamented.