Budget not near to reality: Bhatti Vikramarka

Hyderabad: Congress Legislative Party leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Saturday said that the budget presented by the Finance Minister T Harish Rao was not close to reality and said that Telangana was among the States that spends less from the budget in the country.

Speaking during the discussion on budget in the Assembly on, Mallu said there was a big gap between the allocation in the budget and spending by the government. While national average in terms of spending by the State governments was 17.9 per cent, the spending by the Telangana government was 9.5 per cent. He said that there were no big allocations in important departments like Education, Health, Roads and Bridges and Rural Development.

The CLP leader said that there were doubts on the income of the State as projected by the Finance Minister. He said that the government said that the non-tax revenue would be Rs 30,500 crore. However, if the records were seen in the last three to four years, the non-tax revenues have been around Rs 10,000 crore. How the government would bring the remaining Rs 20,000 crore? he asked. Similarly, the grant in aid has been around Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 crore but the State government is expecting Rs 28,000 crore. How the government would bring Rs 48,000 crore? he sought to know. The debt repayment has been mentioned at Rs 9,000 crore, but the actual repayments are Rs 50,000 crore, he said adding that budget was not near to reality.

The CLP leader said that the government should take a stand and stop the construction of Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Project. He said that if the project was constructed, the water would not come to Srisailam and Nagarjunsagar. Already, the people in the said areas are deprived of water and if the project was completed, there would be no water at all, said Mallu, demanding the government to stop the project.

The Congress leader said that the Dharani software had glitches. The site has Part A and Part B and the problem lies in Part B where there are assigned lands belonging to weaker sections. He wanted the government to solve the problems and also demanded the appointment of Chief Commissioner of Land Administration.