Telangana finance minister T Harish Rao stated that the double-bedroom housing scheme will be implemented alongside a newly proposed scheme to provide one-time financial assistance to those with vacant land.
The state government has proposed a housing scheme in Telangana that would provide a one-time grant of Rs 3 lakh in rural areas and Rs 5 lakh in urban areas.
“Telangana will obtain funds from Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) for its implementation with a Budget outlay of Rs 12,000 crore already proposed in the state Budget presented on Monday,’” said the minister.
Harish Rao stated that the Pay Revision Commission arrears will be cleared soon and one of three DAs has been already given to the government employees with the Telangana Cabinet soon take a decision on the remaining DAs while responding to issues raised by MLAs in the Legislative Assembly during the general discussion on the state Budget on Wednesday.
“Developmental works in the old buildings of the Osmania General Hospital and the Unani Hospital are already underway,” said Harish Rao.
“No fresh taxes during the current fiscal will be imposed by the state government this year with mobilising revenue resources of Rs 2,000 crore by June this year, through increasing efficiency in tax collections, land auctions, and removal of unnecessary assets among others, ” added the minister.
The long-awaited ‘sports policy’ to promote sports in the state is nearly complete and will be released soon.
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Budget rift between Central and state govt
Harish Rao made it clear that the Telangana government will not hesitate to go to court if the Centre continues to delay deciding on the state’s share of Krishna water.
The Telangana government had previously petitioned the Supreme Court on the issue, but withdrew the petition after receiving assurances from the Union Water Resources Minister that the matter would be resolved soon.
“But months on, the Centre is still sitting on the decision. We will not hesitate to approach the court of law as we have our concerns over the share of river water,” he told the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.
Harish Rao stated during the marathon general discussion on the state budget that BJP leaders from the state should convince their party-led Union Government that they are committed to the cause of Telangana.
Referring to Telangana’s achievements in agriculture, he launched a broadside against the Centre for ignoring farmers’ interests.
“While Telangana Government had spent Rs 1.92 lakh crore on farmers’ welfare, the Centre had drastically reduced the allocations to farmers’ welfare schemes like Fasal Bima Yojana and PM Kisan Samman Nidhi,” remarked Harish.
“The state’s debt to GDP ratio which was 55.9 per cent this year is expected to increase to 56.2 per cent next fiscal. At the same time, Telangana’s GSDP is projected to reach ₹13.5 lakh crore at the end of the current fiscal,” he said.
Harish Rao went on to explain the Centre’s unilateral decision to reduce loans under the FRBM Act, which resulted in a net deficit to the state of Rs 15,033 crore.
The Centre insisted on installing metres on farm sector connections in order avail of borrowings of 3.5 per cent GSDP, but the state was firmly against it “This has resulted in shortfall of ₹16,653 crore over the past few years, but we are committed not to fix meters to farm connections,” he said.
The Centre on its part had not fulfilled its promise of bringing down the fiscal deficit to around three per cent by Fiscal year 21 and the deficit in the current budget was projected at 6.3 per cent. “Weak States and strong Centre appears to be the motto of the present Government,” he said.
The Centre, which was imposing cuts in the borrowings of non-BJP-ruled states, was actually raising huge sums. “The Centre is raising Rs 1 lakh crore borrowings every month, Rs. 4,618 crore every day while it was paying interest of Rs 2,959 crore a day on an average to service the debt,” remarked Harish Rao.
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