Telangana: Welfare schemes to get more funds

Hyderabad: The Telangana government this time is likely to allocate more funds for the welfare schemes in the state. This indication was available from the budget 2023-24 discussions that have begun.

Finance Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao invited secretaries and heads of various departments to hold talks on the budget proposals for the new financial year beginning from April 1. The budget session of the Assembly would begin around February-end or in the first week of March.

Officials said that the Finance department was revising the budget estimations of the current financial year. The total budget outlay in 2022-2023 was Rs 2.56 lakh crore. "The Finance department has been struggling hard to meet the budget estimations due to sanctions imposed by the Centre on the mobilization of the funds through borrowing from the financial institutions. The finance wing proposed to reduce the budget outlay by Rs 30,000 crore and revised it at Rs 2.20 lakh crore," they said.

Officials said the government could not fulfil the promise of spending Rs 17,000 crore on Dalit Bandhu and implement the waiver of farmers' loans due to the paucity of funds. However, In the new financial year, the government will earmark major allocations to the welfare schemes in view of the Assembly elections to be held in November this year, sources said.

The Chief Minister wants to execute all the schemes mainly Dalit Bandhu, Rythu Bandhu, Aasara pensions and double-bed-room housing scheme more effectively. Hence the new budget outlay will give top priority to welfare schemes in the allocation of funds. Agriculture, Education and Medical & Health departments are also seeking higher allocation to implement all the pending schemes and other infrastructure development projects.

Only 60 per cent of the funds allocated to these wings in the current financial year have been released so far. Sources said that again fund crunch was the reason for restricting the release of funds. Funds for completing the pending development programmes will also take place ahead of the elections, the officials said. The Finance department is also likely to take appropriate decision with regard to the clearance of long-pending bills pertaining to the completion of the projects taken up by the Roads & Buildings, Panchayat Raj and Municipal Administration & Urban Development wings in the ongoing budget preparatory meetings.