Centre ‘grabbed’ more tax from Telangana

Hyderabad: The tall claim of the BJP leaders from Telangana that the Centre has provided over Rs 3.3 lakh crore to the State in the past seven years for its development, turns to be an utter lie. Instead, it appears to the other way around as taxes collected by the union government from Telangana accounted […]

Hyderabad: The tall claim of the BJP leaders from Telangana that the Centre has provided over Rs 3.3 lakh crore to the State in the past seven years for its development, turns to be an utter lie. Instead, it appears to the other way around as taxes collected by the union government from Telangana accounted for a whopping Rs 3,65,797 crore between 2014-15 and 2020-21. Of this, Telangana received around Rs 1,68,647 crore through devolution of funds and other grants as per the Constitutional provisions.

As per the statistics available with the union and the State governments, the taxes collected by the Centre from Telangana amounts to a total Rs 3.65 lakh crore which includes income tax, central excise, customs duty, service tax and GST. However, the Centre had not furnished complete data pertaining to the financial years 2019-20 and 2020-21.

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While Rs 99,076 crore were released to the State as share in the Central taxes, Rs 69,571 crore were sanctioned to the State towards Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), Finance Commission grants, Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) and GST among others. Of this, a total Rs 4,846 crore was towards GST compensation and another Rs 2,638 crore were pertaining to GST settlements pending from previous years.

Further, the union government owes Rs 7,183 crore to the State payable on various accounts as per the Constitutional provisions. This includes Rs 1,129.93 crore dues of 13th Finance Commission grants for local bodies and State specific needs, Rs 817.61 crore due of 14th Finance Commission grants for local bodies, Rs 1,103.7 crore dues of 15th Finance Commission grants for 2021-22 for local bodies, Rs 1,350 crore towards BRGF as per Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, and Rs 2,247 crore pertaining to GST compensation for 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Despite repeated requests from the State government including Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, Finance Minister T Harish Rao and TRS MPs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the authorities in the union Finance Ministry, there has been no favourable action till date.

Tearing into the BJP’s allegations and false claims here on Saturday, Finance Minister T Harish Rao dared BJP State president Bandi Sanjay and union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy to justify their statements that the State was being run with funds from the Centre. He dared them to get the pending funds from the union government to Telangana and prove their commitment for development of the State, rather than confining themselves to mere statements.

“Kishan Reddy, Bandi Sanjay and other BJP State leaders have become experts in spreading lies on par with Nazi propagandist Goebbels. They are ready to take credit for the achievements of Telangana government, but not willing to share the responsibilities by getting pending funds to the State, national project status to Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme, educational institutions of importance or any new project to the State,” he said.

Harish Rao demanded to know if the BJP government excelled in governance and funding all the schemes in Telangana including Aasara pensions as was being claimed by the BJP leaders, why people living in Raichur district in the neighbouring Karnataka were not enjoying the fruits of development like those in Jogulamba Gadwal or Wanaparthy districts in Telangana. “I am willing to accompany Sanjay on any day and at any time to Raichur. Let him prove his remarks,” he said. The Centre’s contribution to Aasara pension scheme is just Rs 1,645 crore i.e. 3.4 per cent of total Rs 48,273 crore spent by the State in last eight years.

 

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