Bhatti Vikramarka asks Finance officials to explore avenues to raise income

Finance Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Urges Officials to Seek Additional Revenue Streams for Fulfilling Congress Manifesto Promises.

Hyderabad: Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu on Saturday asked officials to explore various avenues to raise more income to fulfill the guarantees included in the Congress party’s manifesto.

The Finance Minister, who met senior officials of the Finance Department at the Secretariat to get first hand information on the financial situation of the State, asked them to take up exercises to find various sources of income so that the government could take up welfare programmes.

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“Officials should work diligently to increase revenue to fulfill the six guarantees announced by the Congress party and the promises contained in the Abhaya Hastam manifesto,” he said.
Stating that the success of the government depended on the Finance department’s performance, Bhatti said the goals of the State government would be fulfilled only through the dedication and commitment of the employees.

“Telangana is in debt of Rs.5.5 lakh crore. However, as a challenge, I took charge of this department. Let us all achieve the economic progress of the State by overcoming the challenges,” he said.

Out of the six guarantees announced by the Congress party, the government had implemented two guarantees within two days of the formation of the government, he said, adding that as the first step towards women empowerment, the Maha Lakshmi scheme was launched providing free travel facility in TSRTC buses to all girls and women in the State.

The insurance aid under the Rajiv Arogyasri had been increased to Rs.10 lakh and was being implemented from Saturday to provide better corporate medical services to the people, he said. “Government is not giving freebies to people. It should be considered as an investment in human resources,”he said.

Finance Department Special Chief Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao briefed Bhatti Vikramarka about the State’s financial conditions, income, expenditure and debts.