Telangana not to rely on Central grants

Hyderabad: The State cabinet on Sunday approved the budget outlay for 2022-2023 financial year, which is to be presented by Finance Minister T Harish Rao in the Assembly on the first day of the session.

Although the total outlay will be more than Rs 2.50 lakh crore, sources said that the government would not rely on the Central grants in the new budget. In the 2021-2022 financial year, the State has asked for Rs 37,000 crore from the Centre, however it could not get more than Rs 10,000 crore.

Official sources said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has explained his cabinet colleagues the importance of allocation of huge funds to all welfare schemes in the new financial year as the Assembly elections were set to be held in 2023. Dalit Bandhu, Rythu Bandhu, Aasara pensions, Kalyana Lakshmi, Education and health infrastructure development would be accorded top priority in the allocations.

Sources said that the Chief Minister already asked the heads of revenue generating wings, mainly Excise and Prohibition, Stamps and Registration, Transport, Commercial Taxes and non-tax revenue departments to increase the revenue targets by at least 25 per cent to meet the financial requirements in the new fiscal.

Infrastructure development projects like road network, irrigation projects and other development works are likely to get moderate funds in view of the increasing welfare grants in the recent years.