The Union Budget has been a consistent disappointment for Telangana for the last few years, with no specific announcements for the State.
It’s not just that, despite nine union budgets, none of the promises made under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act were kept. Requests from the state government for various infrastructure and development projects have also been repeatedly ignored.
The State government had made requests pertaining to nearly 35 issues, including assurances given under the AP Reorganisation Act, ahead of the union Budget 2022-23 as well. The Centre has not responded, as usual.
Telangana’s hopes for a tribal university in Mulugu, a steel plant in Bayyaram, and a railway coach factory in Kazipet, among other things, have been dashed as a result of the Centre’s apathy.
The Centre has not sanctioned any major educational institutions of national prominence in the last nine years, including an IIM, NID, IISER, Navodaya and Kendriya Vidyalayas, among others, as requested by the State.
Requests for budgetary support for the development of industrial corridors, the Information Technology Investment Region, Hyderabad Pharma City, the Mega Handloom/Powerloom Cluster, the Mega Textile Park, and other industrial infrastructure development projects have been accumulating dust in various Centre departments.
Except for the Regional Ring Road proposed by the State government and highway expansion/connectivity projects primarily serving other States, none of the infrastructure development projects have received Centre approval.
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The Centre has remained largely silent on requests for the release of GST compensation and IGST settlement dues. The state government has yet to receive funds totaling more than Rs.10,000 crore pending with the Centre, including GST compensation and IGST settlement.
The State has yet to receive the special grant of Rs.723 crore awarded by the 15th Finance Commission for decline in tax devolution, as well as the Rs.965.52 crore awarded by the 14th Finance Commission to rural and urban local bodies.
Furthermore, the request for the transfer of dues totaling Rs.495 crore towards Centrally Sponsored Schemes that were inadvertently released to Andhra Pradesh in 2014-15 has been repeatedly ignored.
Similarly, no action has been taken on pending electricity dues from Andhra Pradesh to Telangana.
Instead, the Centre directed Telangana to clear dues pending to Andhra Pradesh, with a threat of action against the State being made if it did not do so. Special assistance of Rs.900 crore under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, has also not been released.
Though certain projects, such as river inter-linking projects, were expected to benefit the state, there has been no significant progress in the inter-linking of the Godavari and Krishna rivers.
While Telangana has urged the Centre to resolve the Krishna River water dispute between Telangana and AP before undertaking river inter-linking projects, the Centre has made no such efforts.
It remains to be seen whether the upcoming Union Budget will be any different.
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