Telangana poised for 2 lakh cr budget

​Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Thursday said that Telangana State was poised to have a budget of Rs 2 lakh crore by 2020 and Rs 5 lakh crore budget by 2024.

Speaking on the occasion of second Telangana Formation Day at Parade Grounds here on Thursday, he said that after two years of formation, the new state has now attained financial stability.

KCR said it took about one year for the government to get clarity on the exact financial position. After knowing the income and expenditure, we presented over Rs 1.30 lakh crore budget during 2016-17 and now the state was poised to move towards attaining Bangaru Telangana at a faster pace, the Chief Minister said.

• Will go ahead with all irrigation projects
• State has attained financial stability
• Rs 5 lakh crore budget by 2024

Referring to Information Technology (IT) he said it will no more be confined to Hyderabad but will be expanded to tier two cities. Telangana had 1,300 new IT units after it became a state, separate from Andhra Pradesh.

More than one lakh jobs have been created through the new industries set up in the last two years, the Chief Minister said. He claimed success of his industrial policy, which emphasises on 'TS-iPASS' (Telangana State Project Approval and Self-Certification System) and promises to grant all statutory permissions through a single window.

Referring to relations with the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh, Rao said it has been creating hurdles in the irrigation projects, though Karnataka and Maharashtra are cooperative. “We will not let their (AP) games succeed.

We will go ahead with our irrigation projects as redesigned by us to suit our needs," he said. KCR said that the government had already started Palamuru lift irrigation scheme and Kaleshwaram.

By 2018, water would come through Kaleshwaram, Dindi, Seetarama, Pranahita projects. He said that ongoing projects were being completed on a war footing. Kalvakurthy, Nettempadu, Beema, Koilsagar projects in Mahabubnagar and Komuram Bheem, Neelvai, Jagannadhapuram projects would be completed by 2017.

KCR said that the people of Telangana lived like second grade citizens in undivided Andhra Pradesh. “Our water, funds and employment were taken away and that is why we fought on these three issues to get separate state of Telangana,” he said. KCR said that the TRS government has been implementing the promises made in the manifesto.

Referring to the formation of new districts, he said the formation of districts was based on geographical, administrative and public convenience. About 14 to 15 new districts would be needed. By Dasara these new districts would start functioning. Apart from districts, new revenue divisions and new mandals would also be formed, he added.

Stating that the state was lagging behind in terms of literacy as it was 67 per cent compared to national average of 72 per cent, KCR said a special programme was being planned to attain complete literacy. He said that 250 residential schools were sanctioned with an intention to check dropouts and this was the beginning of ‘KG to PG scheme of the government.

KCR said that four new super specialty hospitals in Hyderabad and three in the state would be started by the government. One dialysis, ICU per each district would also be started.

The Chief Minister also listed out the flagship schemes taken up by the government in the last two years which includes pensions, Kalyana Lakshmi, Rs 1 kg rice for all members in a family. He also talked about two major programmes of the government including Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhageeratha.