Telangana ranks 25th in availing loans: Finance Minister Harish Rao

Harish Rao questioned the BJP members about the delay in the GST compensation. He said the Centre was not releasing Rs 1,129.9 crore recommended by the Finance Commission for the last six years. An amount of Rs 817.61 crore under the 15th Finance Commission has been pending for two years. Backward area development funds of Rs 1,350 crore has also been pending for three years. Also, Rs 720 crore under the 14th Finance Commission is still pending

Telangana is 25thamong the 29 States in terms of taking loans and it is well under the prescribed limit of FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management), Finance Minister T Harish Rao said while replying to the budget discussion in the Assembly on Monday.

The minister replied to points raised by the Opposition members one by one. He alleged that they were misleading people. He said the government was fourth from bottom of the list of 29 States which take lesser loans and stands 25th whereas Punjab is at third place

Rao said that as per the RBI norms, States cannot take loans according to their wishes. The GSDP (gross state domestic product) and loans ratio is decided by the Centre and the RBI. Telangana is taking 22.8 per cent loans of GSDP, whereas Congress-ruled Punjab is third with 38.7%, Rajasthan is eighth with 34.7% and Chhattisgarh is at the 18th. The Centre is taking 62.2% loans of GDP, said Rao. He pointed out that the FRBM limit was increased from 3.5 to 5% by the Centre because of the pandemic.

The minister said that the loan burden was not Rs 50,000 crore as claimed by the CLP leader. He explained that the RBI provided some provisions to the States, which is a temporary mechanism, like hand loans, ways and means and overdraft. These funds are taken by the government in case of urgency, like payment of salaries. Once the State gets income, the RBI takes its money and releases the remaining, he said, alleging the CLP leader was misleading the House and people. He clarified that the State has to pay Rs 26,624 crore as loan and also interest.

The minister questioned the BJP members about the delayin the GST compensation. He said the Centre was not releasing Rs 1,129.9 crore recommended by the Finance Commission for the last six years. An amount of Rs 817.61 crore under the 15th Finance Commission had been pending for two years.Backward area development funds of Rs 1,350 crore had also been pending for three years. Also, Rs 720 crore under the 14th Finance Commission was still pending. He said the government would appreciate the Centre if something good is done to Telangana and oppose if injustice is meted out. He recalled that the State government supported demonetisation, GST and Article 370.

On allegations of low spending, the minister alleged that the CLP leader had selectively chosen low spending and ignored high spending departments. He said Telangana was top in the country in spending on agriculture. It was spending more on education; spending through welfare departments should also be considered. On allegations of wastage of Corona vaccine by 17.5 per cent, Rao asserted that the actual wastage was 1.22 per cent. He said the national unemployment rate was more than the State average. The government was planning to get Rs 16,000 crore this year through sale of lands.