Pandemic forces Telangana to rethink on infrastructure schemes

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will hold a midterm review of the state financial position on Saturday. The government is likely to put on hold a few infrastructure developmental schemes in education, health, panchayat raj, roads and buildings and irrigation departments and downsize the allocations to certain departments for the current financial year.

Official sources said that this had become necessary due to the slowdown of the economy and fall in revenue collection due to the corona pandemic. The government feels that there is a need to trim the budget outlay.

Finance Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao will present a report on the financial situation since April this year and the negative impact corona had on revenue generation. Based on the estimates presented at the meeting, the Chief Minister will convene a meeting of ministers and secretaries of all departments on Sunday. The government has projected an outlay of Rs 1.82-lakh crore in the budget estimates for 2020-2021. But the revenue generation has been adversely affected.