Budget illusionary, far from reality says Former minister Shabbir Ali

Hyderabad: Former minister Shabbir Ali described the budget presented by Finance Minister T Harish Rao on Thursday as 'illusionary, deceptive, misleading and far from reality. He said the estimates were nowhere close to the real economic situation.

"It is ridiculous that the TRS government is proposing to spend over Rs 2.32 lakh crore, while it has revenues of less than Rs.1.2 Lakh crore," he pointed out.

The revenues through taxes and duties in 2018-19 and 2019-20 were Rs. 83,234.95 crore and Rs. 83,585.08 crore respectively, while the revised estimate for 2020-21 stands at Rs. 87,926.90 crore. However, the government expects this to grow by Rs.18,973.23 crore to Rs. 106,900.13 crore in 2021-22.

Similarly, it expects an increase in non-tax revenues from Rs.19,305.58 crore in 2020-21 to Rs.30,557.35 crore, an increase of Rs.11,251.77 crore. It also expects a spike in grant-in-aid by Rs.28,144.10 crore, from Rs.10,525.36 crore in 2020-21 to Rs. 38,669.46 crore in 2021-22.

The total revenue receipts were Rs.1.01 lakh crore in 2018-19 which increased by about Rs. 1,100 crore to Rs.1.02 lakh cr in 2019-20. The government estimated the total revenues to be Rs.1.17 lakh crore in 2020-21.

With just 13 days left for the end of the current financial year, the government is not likely to achieve this target due to various factors. However, it displayed 'over-optimism' by estimating the total revenues to be Rs.1.76 lakh crore, an increase by a whopping Rs.58,369.10 crore, without actually explaining its sources, he said.

Shabbir stated that the budget figures clearly show that the government was planning to burden the common man with Rs.30,225 crore in 2021-22 with new taxes, increase in existing taxes or other modes. Despite having no clarity on how it would mobilise the grant-in-aid of Rs.38,669.46 crore, the government is planning to borrow another Rs.49,300 crore.

With regard to the double bedroom housing scheme, Shabbir said the minister admitted that the government did not construct promised one lakh houses in Hyderabad. He said Hyderabad got a raw deal in the budget.

Shabbir alleged that the government was cheating the minorities by creating a hype of "spending Rs. 2,000 crore" for their welfare, while it was never 50 per cent of the total allocations. He said this year only Rs.1,602 crore have been allocated in the budget.