TS Govt must present full-fledged budget, demands Congress

Hyderabad: The Congress party on Wednesday demanded that the Telangana Government present a full-fledged budget for the financial year 2019-20 instead of coming up with a Vote On Account budget.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin said that people across the country and Telangana State were witnessing a strange situation. "BJP Government at the Centre has only three months left for its tenure. But it wants to present a full-fledged budget which not only unconstitutional, but against all norms, rules and established Parliamentary practices. On the other side, TRS Government, which got a mandate for next five years, wants to come up with a Vote-on-Account or interim budget. Both BJP and TRS does not want to follow the Constitution," he said.

Nizamuddin said that there was no valid reason for the TRS Government to defer the presentation of full-fledged budget and go for an Vote and Account budget for three months. "Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has claimed that the State Government wants to come up with an Vote On Account due to lack of clarity on Centre's financial contribution to State's schemes or devolution of funds. The State Government should take an average of Central funds it got during the last five financial years and include them as estimate for 2019-20. This can be revised later. Therefore, the State Government should present the budget based on its own estimated revenues and proposed expenditures," he said.

The Congress leader alleged that the Chief Minister was actually trying to buy some time to cover up his government's failures on economic front. "Presently, Telangana is present facing a huge financial crisis. There is no money left in the State's exchequer to be spent on new schemes. Situation will turn worse in the coming months. Telangana Government has been surviving on loans. In 2017-2018, as per CAG reports, the State Govt had borrowed over Rs. 26,738 Crore. This year, as of November 30, it already borrowed Rs. 21,537 crore and on January 25, Telangana Government has offered to sell securities through RBI to raise another Rs. 2,000 crore," he said.

Nizamuddin said that it was shocking that the India's richest State is borrowing loans to meet its basic expenditure. "All growth and revenue figures being furnished by the Chief Minister are escalated. Telangana needs Rs. 2.5 lakh crore per annum, but it is having overall revenues of not more than Rs. 1.5 lakh crore. There is a gap of nearly Rs. 1 lakh crore and TRS Govt is not clear on how it will fill it," he said.

The TPCC Spokesperson said that Telangana was already in debts of over Rs. 2.5 lakh. In order to bridge the gap of Rs. 1 lakh crore per annum, Telangana Government will need to borrow at least Rs. 1 lakh crore every year. Therefore, the present debts of Telangana will get tripled to about Rs. 7.5 lakh crore by the time TRS completes its second term in power in December 2023, he said.

Nizamuddin demanded that the State Government present a clear picture of Telangana's Actual Revenues, Exact Expenditure and Total Debts, including interest being paid on them and the repayment schedule. "This is public money and CM KCR or anyone else are not entitled to use it or misuse it in any way they want. People of Telangana have voted for TRS to assign it the responsibility of managing their money in a judicious manner. CM KCR must feel his responsibility and come clear on this," he demanded.