Budget in tune with TRS govt’s dream of Golden Telangana

Focus on basic needs of common man

• Rs.1 lakh crore budget for 10 months of the current fiscal
• Rs.17,398 crore deficit despite huge spending
• Huge allocations for water, irrigation, power, public health, education, SC, ST Sub-Plans
• 20,000 mw power to be generated in next five years
• Rs.2,000 crore to be spent on restoration of lakes
• Rs.100 crore for financial assistance to martyrs families, every family to get `10 lakh
• Hefty salary hike for Telangana legislators

Hyderabad: Telangana Finance Minister Eatala Rajender presented the maiden budget of the new born State in the Assembly on Wednesday with an outlay of Rs 1,00,637 crore. This includes Rs 48,648.47 crore as plan and Rs 51989.49 crore as non-plan outlay.

The Finance minister presented the budget, with fiscal deficit of Rs 17,398 crore. The estimated revenue surplus is Rs 301.02 crore. The marginal revenue surplus is entirely on account of additional resource mobilisation proposed in the budget, he said.

Introducing the budget for 10 months of the current fiscal amid protests by the Opposition Congress and TDP MLAs, the minister said their government's priority was to rebuild the State which was indiscriminately exploited and devastated by the combined Andhra Pradesh rulers.

He said that for the first time the government had effected a paradigm shift by adopting decentralised development model of Mana Vooru Mana Pranalika through which suggestions were sought from people at village and ward levels to assess their felt needs.

"It was a moment of pride for me to present over Rs one lakh crore budget in a house where the previous government had insulted us saying we will not give even one rupee to do what you can.”

Claiming that the budget was in tune with the government's dream of achieving 'golden Telangana,' he said, "The long journey had just started and there will be no looking back till they reach their destination.

Stating that opportunities were lost and problems accumulated as a result of deliberate neglect of Telangana over last six decades, he said the immense task before the government was not only to correct historic wrongs but also to quickly impart social and economic justice for vast majority of the people.

Acknowledging the role of martyrs in achieving statehood to Telangana, the minister said he had allocated Rs 100 crore for financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh per martyr's family. In all, the government had identified 459 of them so far. Rajender said an allocation of Rs 6,500 crore was made for irrigation. He said four lift irrigation projects, including Kalwakurty and Nettampadu in Mahabubnagar district, would be completed within one year and would create irrigation potential of 2.97 lakh acres. He said agriculture in the state was a risky gamble owing to the neglect of the sector by the previous governments and hence the government had decided to take up restoration of over 45,000 tanks over the next five years. About 9000 tanks at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore are proposed to be taken up for restoration this financial year.

Other important allocations are: SC Sub-Plan (Rs. 7,579 crore), ST Sub-Plan (Rs. 4,559.81 crore) and drinking water grid (Rs 2,000 crore). Ten percent of water in irrigation projects for the use of drinking water would be earmarked for the water grid and Rs 1030 crore for minority welfare, Rajender said.

According to him it would take about three years for the government to implement the loan waiver scheme. This fiscal the government has allocated Rs 4,250 crore. Similarly it has also decided to waive off loans up to Rs 1 lakh per weaver family.

The minister said the government had set a target of adding 20,000 mw of power generation in the next five years and listed out the initiatives taken to overcome the present power crisis. The government also earmarked Rs 200 crore to promote solar pump sets.

Reiterating the government’s commitment towards education, he said the KG to PG scheme would be implemented in a phased manner. A token amount of Rs 25 crore was proposed in the budget to roll out the new strategy, he added.

He further said that while measures were being taken to revive public health systems, Rs 100 crore each for Gandhi and Osmania hospitals has been allocated. He expressed satisfaction that the response from the industry was promising. As part of Tourism promotion, Rs 100 crore has been earmarked for development of Yadagirigutta temple and another Rs 100 crore for Godavari pushkaralu next year.

The Government also hiked the constituency development fund from Rs 1 crore per constituency to Rs 1.50 crore.