Congress demands KCR's resignation for fudging budget figures

Warangal : The Congress party has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao for fudging the budget figures and pushing the Telangana State into a huge debt trap.
 
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy gave a detailed power-point presentation titled "Abbadala KCR - Addamlo Chupina CAG" based on the revelations made by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on the State's finances. He said while budget is a constitutional mandate, CAG is the official watchdog with constitutional sanctity. He said CAG's recent report has exposed KCR's "Utter lies, organised looting, fudging and cheating."
 
The presentation has been prepared by TPCC Chief Spokesperson Dr. Dasoju Sravan.
 
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the overall debts from various resources at the time of Telangana formation stood at Rs. 61,711.50 crore. They increased to Rs. 93,115 Cr in 2016-17 which was 16.18% of GSDP. They mounted to Rs. 127,829 Cr (19.54%) in 2016-17; Rs. 151,133 Cr (20.63%) in 2017-18 and in the current financial year they will increase to Rs. 180,238 Cr which will be 21.39% of GSDP. Of them, Rs. 138,478 Cr from Open Market Loans, Rs. 9,409 are Loans from Central Govt; Rs. 13,611 Cr are loans from autonomous bodies and Rs. 18,738 Cr are Special Securities (Small Saving) & Provident Fund, etc., The outstanding guarantees on loans as on 30th January this year stood at Rs. 41,963 crore.
 
The overall outstanding debts (Loans and Outstanding Guarantees) of Telangana today stand at Rs. 2.21 lakh crore. If this is divided, then the debt burden is Rs. 7,000 Cr on each district; Rs. 370 Cr on each mandal; Rs. 21 Cr on each village and each family of Telangana has a debt of Rs. 2.65 lakh while each citizen now has a debt burden of Rs. 63,142.
 
He countered the Chief Minister's contention that loans were taken for productive purposes. Instead, they said the debts would completely shatter the economy of Telangana. They pointed out that one out of three rupees borrowed was used for paying back existing debt. Debt repayment was one-third of tax revenues. One out of 10 rupees revenue went into interest payment. Almost 49% of Outstanding Debt (Rs. 56,000 Cr) needs to be repaid in next seven years.
 
State Govt has shown revenue receipts of Rs. 82,818 Cr, but the CAG has put the figure at Rs. 80,318 Cr, a difference of Rs. 2,500 Cr. Similarly, as against the State's figure of Rs. 81,432 Cr revenue expenditure, the CAG figure was Rs. 85,710 (difference of Rs. 4,278 Cr). While the TS Government claimed that budget to have a revenue surplus of Rs. 386 crore, the CAG proved that the State had Rs. 5,392 Crore, a whopping difference of Rs. 6,778 Crore.
 
The 14th Finance Commission has permitted borrowings upto to 3% of GSDP. However, on the basis of fudged figures, TRS Government got the FRBM limit increased to 3.5%. However, it violated all the norms and borrowed up to 4.3%. If the Guarantees given to HUDCO to get loans for Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Works are taken into account, then the total borrowings would be 4.7%.
 
Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the TRS Government of having a "contractor orientated budget". "In the name of project redesign our hard-earned revenues were misused and manipulated," he said. He said of total expenditure of Rs. 589,380 crore over five budgets, the expenditure on irrigation alone was Rs. 79,713 crore or 13.5%. "Most of our money has been spent in areas where there are contractors and commissions," he said.
 
Giving comparative figures of TRS Government spending on key sectors, he said negligible amounts were spent on health and education compared to irrigation due to "callous planning" and "greed for commissions". While only 9.1% of total budget was spent on education, it was only 3.9% for health.
 
The TPCC chief pointed out that enrolment in government primary schools has dropped by 1.12 lakh (7.65%). There has been a high dropout rate of SC/ST students from Class I to Class VIII. Approximately 30% of SC children and more than 50% of ST children dropped out from 2014-17. He said that the TRS Government did not implement RTE to provide 25% quota to disadvantaged groups and weaker sections in private unaided schools. It also failed to regular school fee in private schools and keep a tab on corporate institutions like Chaitanya, Narayana and Velocity.
 
Speaking about agriculture sector, Uttam Kumar Reddy said almost 22.87% funds allocated for agriculture were not released. He said not a single rupee was spent towards market intervention to provide remunerative prices to farmers for their produce. The government remained unmoved over the suicide of nearly 4,500 farmers during the last four years. While the allocation for agriculture was 10.9% of total budget, only 5.9% amount was spent in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
 
The TPCC Chief described Mission Kakatiya as the 'saga of commissions'. Quoting CAG report, he said of 46,000 tanks, only 28% of them were completed. Similarly, he said Mission Bhagiratha too proved to be a big scam.
 
As against the eligible beneficiaries of nearly 22 lakh as per Intensive Household Survey, the government has so far constructed only 5,184 units. Likewise, as against three lakh poor Dalit and Girijan families eligible to get cultivable land, the government has sanctioned land for only 12,587 beneficiaries, did registration for 2,866 and passbooks have been issued to just 578 beneficiaries.
 
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that more than 50% of amount meant for SC, ST, BC and minorities’ welfare remained unspent. He also accused the TRS Government of diverting nearly Rs. 10,000 Cr of SC, ST Sub-Plans for other purposes.
 
Shockingly, he said TRS Government has not spent the money for the welfare of families of Telangana martyrs. He said only Rs. 148 crore were allocated for Martyrs' families while only Rs. 43 crore were spent. The government has also betrayed Telangana employees by not depositing Rs. 348 Cr out of Rs. 420 Cr of Employees' Pension Contribution.
 
The TPCC chief accused the TRS Government of committing 'Criminal Breach of Trust' and said KCR, Finance Minister Eatala Rajender, Finance Secretary and Financial Advisors are liable to be booked under Section 409 of IPC. "KCR has lost moral ground to continue as Chief Minister. Hence, KCR must step down. There should be democratic open debate on fudged figures, debts, callous expenditure and future of Telangana," he said.
 
Uttam Kumar Reddy also demanded a special assembly session on CAG findings.
 
Congress Legislature Party leader K. Jana Reddy and Leader of Opposition in Mohammed Ali Shabbir also spoke and demanded that KCR resign from his post immediately. Dr. Dasoju Sravan in his concluding remarks said that the people of Telangana should be enlightened about the actual financial situation of Telangana State.