Asserting that Telangana is a rich state with better revenue sources, leader of the House and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today launched an attack against the BJP led Centre for denying funds to the flagship programs of the state.
Those at the helm of affairs at the Centre lack the vision to cater to the water needs of the states in the country, despite about 17000 tmc waters going waste into the sea, he fumed. This compelled him to work for a strong federal front that will address the key issues across the nation including agriculture, waters usage, projects and others, he said in the Legislative Council while replying to a debate on the State budget.
While 70000 tmc waters are available and 40000 acres are cultivable across the nation, the successive governments at the Centre miserably failed to address the issues due to lack of vision and plan, despite the states fighting for 70 years. The chief minister took a dig at the Centre for not believing in the federal spirit of extending needed financial support to the states. Being the youngest state Telangana has achieved a growth 22 per cent and we are growing in all spheres, he remarked. Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier said that states development is national development, his words did not match his actions, he charged. KCR took serious exception to the Centre for not giving just Rs 24,000 crore against the recommendation of NITI Ayog for Rs 24,000 cr for its flagship programs. He reiterated that loans are inevitable for the states to implement its development programs in a phased manner and the state’s had to see the rise in loan per cent at 22, as the union Minister Peeyush Goel insisted Telangana is a progressive state to adopt Center’s Uday scheme in power sector. He flayed the opposition for terming the budget as ‘jugglery of numbers’ and said that the Centre which failed in several sectors had borrowed Rs 82 lakh crore this fiscal. As said during the statehood movement, Telangana is a surplus state as it spent Rs 1.24 lakh crore for four years, while during combined state Rs 1.29 crore was spent for 23 districts from 2004-14, he said.
KCR also found fault with the Centre for retaining education sector, urban and rural development with it and demanded giving agriculture and health departments to the state. Certainly Telangana is not in debt trap and the loans being taken are for growth, he maintained.(NSS)