Hyderabad: Telangana State incurred more than 90 percent of the total Budget estimates, which can be termed to be the highest in the among the major states of the country, according to Finance Minister Etela Rajender. Many other schemes are being considered and will be launched very soon after the Budget Session in the States Assembly, so that every community and sector can benefit across the State, he added.
“We launched more than 15 top notch schemes which are being replicated by various State governments. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao himself designed several new schemes which are poised to be launched soon after the Budget session,” he announced while responding to the discussion on the State budget in the Legislative Assembly here.
The Minister also said that as of present the State Government has presented a budget of Rs 1.3 lakh crore in 2016-17 fiscal and actual expenditure incurred was Rs 1.21 lakh crore registering 93.4 per cent realization of budget estimates. In a similar way, the State budget for 2017-18 fiscal was Rs 1.49 lakh crore where revised estimates were about Rs 1.42 lakh crore realizing expenditure of 95 per cent funds. “The realization of budget estimates in Telangana State is highest when compared to any State budget,” he commented.
He snubbed the criticism of the BJP legislators who have demonstrated against the government schemes, by saying that the BJP leaders in the state have very limited knowledge about the government schemes as they remain confined to urban areas and gave a suggestion to them to take out time to pay visit to some of the rural parts of the State to see the development due to the Governments’ initiatives. He even suggested for the BJP leaders that they have the option to compare the TS Budget with any of the BJP ruled states or even the Central Government’s and themselves will have to decide about the effectiveness and prevalence of Telangana State’s Programmes.
“The Centre is not releasing its share of Centrally Sponsored Schemes forcing the State to compensate for it. For instance, the Union government released Rs 7,118 crore and Rs 9,076 crore for financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively against budget expectations submitted for Rs 21,720 crore and Rs 12,400 crore by the State government,” the Minister further explained. The Government at the Centre also stopped supply of sugar and oil under Public Distribution System (PDS), he added.
For the clarifications sought by various parties of the State, the Finance Minister responded by saying that the State government has already allocated adequate funds for the city of Hyderabad, which also includes whole part of the Old City. Getting into details about the expenditure for Minorities department, he asserted that about Rs 994.67 crore were already spent for 2017-18 fiscal as on Tuesday. “Industrial incentives to the tune of Rs 416 crore were released during this fiscal so far and the remaining amount will be released in a phased manner,” he added. He said about 2,200 of 4,500 Archakas were getting salaries as directed under the provisions of Pay Revision Commission.