Uttam Kumar demands White Paper on Telangana's finances

Hyderabad: Congress MP & former TPCC President Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday demanded that the Telangana Government release a White Paper on the State's financial situation.

"Telangana is in a huge financial crisis. It has become almost bankrupt with no funds left to spend on welfare schemes and other expenses. A large portion of revenues was being spent towards installments for bad loans and huge interests. While Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao is trying to cover up the financial mismanagement through political statements, the BJP Govt at the Centre has been trying to crush Telangana financially by not releasing the funds and imposing other fiscal restrictions," Uttam Kumar Reddy said in a media statement today.

Uttam Kumar Reddy ridiculed CM KCR's contention that restrictions on Telangana on additional borrowings were responsible for the present financial crisis. He said State's finances have been out of shape since the beginning as TRS Govt used inflated figures, manipulated data and even tampered with facts to highlight Telangana as the country's richest State. All the annual budgets presented by the TRS Govt were unrealistic and based on huge assumptions and not actual revenues. CM KCR even projected loans borrowed on huge interest rates as the State's revenues to show inflated figures of growth and per capita income, he alleged.

He pointed out that Telangana, at the time of its formation, inherited debts of nearly Rs. 69,000 crores accumulated over 60 years. But in the last eight years, due to KCR's financial mismanagement, the overall debts have increased to over Rs. 4 lakh crore. Further, the Per Capita Debt has increased from Rs. 18,157 in 2014-15 to over Rs. 1 Lakh in 2022-23. Consequently, he said today Telangana Govt was spending a significant percentage of its revenues for the repayment of loans and huge interest, he said.

The Congress MP said that the Chief Minister was showing a deficit in estimated revenues by Rs. 15,000 crore due to the present ceiling on FRMB limit from Rs. 54,000 crore to Rs. 39,000. "How could a deficit of just Rs. 15,000 crores have an impact on the State's budget of Rs. 2,56,958 crore?" he asked while demanding the Chief Minister to release department-wise dues of nearly Rs. 40,000 crores pending from the Centre.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the TRS Govt did not implement a single welfare scheme 100% since 2014-15 primarily due to financial mismanagement. All the schemes were confined to 'prototypes'. For instance, double-bedroom units were constructed in some areas and their pictures were used for publicity to create an impression as if all promised 2.76 lakh 2BHK units have been constructed. As per the Intensive Household Survey conducted by the TRS Govt itself, nearly 22 lakh families in Telangana do not own a house. However, the TRS Govt did not construct houses for even 22,000 families, he alleged.

Similarly, he said that the Dalit Bandhu scheme was launched in view of the Huzurabad by-elections. A few select families were given Rs. 10 lakh assistance and once the elections were over, its implementation was slowed down. He said all 17 lakh poor Dalit families must be given the promised Rs. 10 lakh assistance. However, TRS Govt is not having funds to support even 10,000 families.

"Over 40 lakh people in Telangana are jobless. They include nearly 23-24 lakh qualified youth who registered themselves with the State Public Service Commission. TRS Govt neither provided jobs nor paid the promised Unemployment Allowance of Rs. 3,016 to the jobless youth due to shortage of funds," he said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy advised CM KCR to engage financial experts to discuss and formulate solutions to resolve the ongoing financial crisis. He said KCR and his ministers should stop making false claims of Telangana being the richest State with the highest GDP growth and Per Capita Income. All these figures are fake and manipulated. He said KCR should accept the reality that Telangana is in huge debt which could not be cleared for the next two generations. "Before convening the Assembly session, TRS Govt should release a White Paper giving genuine figures of revenues, loans and estimated expenditures. The present problem cannot be solved by just giving political statements and blaming others," he demanded.