Telangana’s Finance Minister T. Harish Rao claimed on Monday that the Centre is creating hurdles in the development of the state.
While presenting the State Budget for 2023-24 in the Assembly, he stated that while Telangana has made significant progress through its own efforts, the Central government has created hurdle after hurdle.
He slammed the union government for lowering the state’s borrowing limit, claiming that in order to complete irrigation projects in the shortest possible time, the Telangana government had to resort to off-budget borrowings well within the limits of the FRBM Act.
“During the current year, based on our economic performance and borrowing limits, an amount of Rs 53,970 crore has been included in the Budget as borrowings. But the Central government unilaterally imposed a cut of Rs 15,033 crore and reduced our borrowing limits to Rs 38,937 crore. This decision of the Centre is totally unjustified and uncalled for. These kinds of cuts are against the spirit of federalism and have eroded the rights of the States,” he said.
Harish Rao claimed that the Centre had broken the tradition of implementing in toto the recommendations of the Finance Commission.
The 15th Finance Commission recommended a special grant of Rs.723 crore to Telangana and a nutrition grant of Rs 171 crore to ensure that tax devolution does not fall below the amount received by the state in 2019-20. By refusing to accept these recommendations, the Central Government denied Telangana its rightful share of Finance Commission grants.
He claimed that no government in the country’s history had so blatantly ignored the Finance Commission’s recommendations.
The Centre’s indifference to the implementation of many provisions in the Parliament-enacted Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, he described as completely undemocratic.
Harish Rao said the A.P. Reorganization Act requires the Central government to provide tax concessions to the successor states in order to ensure industrialization and economic growth in the two states. By providing only nominal concessions, the Central government has ignored the interests of both the States.
“Under section 94(2) of the A.P.Reorganization Act, the Central government shall provide funds for the development of backward areas. Though the Centre is supposed to release a grant of Rs 450 crore per annum, grants for three years amounting to Rs 1,350 crore have not been released.”
The state Finance Minister informed the Assembly that NITI Aayog has recommended that a grant of Rs 19,205 crore for Mission Bhagiratha and Rs 5,000 crore for Mission Kakatiya may be released by the Centre to Telangana.
However, he claimed that the central government has yet to release even a single paise.
“The 13th Schedule of the A.P.Reorganization Act has mandated the Centre to take necessary steps and to establish institutions for the sustained development of the State in the next 10 years. The Centre by its negligent attitude has not resolved many issues so far.” The Reorganization Act specifically mentions the establishment of a Rail Coach Factory in Kazipet, as well as the Bayyaram Steel Plant and Girijan University.
Even after eight and a half years, these mandates have not been fulfilled. Furthermore, the ITIR sanctioned to Telangana has been shelved.
“Another glaring instance of discrimination to Telangana is the order issued by the Union Power Ministry in August 2022. In this order, Telangana government has been directed to pay pending dues of TS DISCOMs amounting to Rs 3,441.78 crore as principal and Rs 3,315.14 crore as late payment surcharge, totaling to Rs 6,756.92 crore to A.P.Genco within 30 days. Though Telangana has been pleading with the Central government regarding dues amounting to Rs.17,828 crore payable by Andhra Pradesh to Telangana Power Utilities, the request has been ignored without any reason. Left with no option, the Telangana government had to approach the Court of Law,” he added.
(This story has been sourced from a third-party syndicated feed, agencies. Raavi Media accepts no responsibility or liability for the text’s dependability, trustworthiness, reliability, and data. Raavi Media management/ythisnews.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content at its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.)
