Hyderabad: Describing the Telangana State budget as ‘unrealistic one’, PCC Chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that it was not possible for implementation, and the budget was disappointing one to many sections of people. He said that 60 percent of the budget was allocated only for three portfolios headed by the Chief Minister (K Chandrasekhar Rao), Irrigation Minister (T Harish Rao) and Panchayatraj Minister (KT Rama Rao).
Reacting on the budget introduced by the Finance Minister Etela Rajender on Monday for the year 2016-17 in the Telangana State Legislative Assembly, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the government was taking loans left and right and taking pride about it. He alleged that the government failed to allocate a single rupee for its flagship scheme i.e. double bed room scheme in the Plan Budget. The expenditure for two lakh double bed room houses would be Rs.12,000 crore, but the government deceived the weaker section people by not allocating a single rupee. The government is saying that it will bring loans from HUDCO. But there are no instances of Hudco giving that much of huge loans, he said.
The government assured the farmers that it will waive farmers’ loans at one go but in practice it was waiving off the loans in phases. For the third phase, the government allocated a meager amount in the 2016-17 budget by keeping one more phase in pending. The TRS government has no heart towards farmers welfare though it introduced Rs.1.30 lakh crore budget this year, he lamented.
People have given power to the TRS party to rule the state for the five years but it was throwing the people into debt trap, he alleged and said that the government will pool up the budget through revenue (72,000 crore ) and from centre (28,000 crore). The government has to bring the remaining Rs.30,000 crore in the form of loans and what will happen if the government brings loans in such a manner every year. The government says that it will waive off the farmers’ loans after getting FRBM from the centre, he stated and warned the people that the state would face dangerous conditions in future in case the government brings debts in this manner.
Expressing unhappiness over the allocation of budget to the three acre land for dalits scheme, Uttam said that the government allocated name sake budget to this scheme. He said that 60 lakh daliths were living in the state but the government allocated land to only 2500 families in the last two years and asked as to how many years it takes to distribute land for 60 lakh families.
Finding fault with the tenders of Palamuru-Rangareddy project, Uttam said that the government would have saved Rs.3000 crore in case the tender process took place in competitive bidding. He said that the government was going to spend Rs.5 lakh per acre on redesigned Pranahitha-Chevella project as the estimates escalated from Rs.38,000 to Rs.83,000 crore. He said that the government has to spend Rs.70,000 per acre for the maintenance of lifts on the project after the completion of the project. (NSS)