CM KCR calls for week-long winter session of Telangana Assembly in December

TS Legislature winter session will be held for one week in December to discuss and inform the people of Telangana on the Centre imposing cuts in revenue due to Telangana for the current fiscal of 2022-23.

Hyderabad: The winter session of the Telangana State Legislature will be held for one week in December to discuss and inform the people of Telangana on the Centre imposing cuts in revenue due to Telangana for the current fiscal of 2022-23. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao directed Finance Minister T Harish Rao and Legislative Affairs Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy to take measures in this regard.

Due to the restrictions imposed by the BJP government at the Centre, Telangana was denied funding for various programmes being implemented in the State. As a result, the State suffered a shortfall of more than Rs 40,000 crore in revenue for the year 2022-23. The Chief Minister observed that the Centre was restricting the growth of the State by denying funds and unnecessary restrictions on the State. He emphasised the need to explain to the people of the State from the Legislative Assembly about these restrictions in detail.

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As per the established practices, the States formulate their budgets for the upcoming fiscal based on the Central allocations for that specific year. Further, the union government also announces the FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) limited in advance to each State for facilitating mobilisation of financial resources. Accordingly, the State government prepared the budget for 2022-23 and was expecting to receive Rs.54,000 crore revenue through various means.

However, the irrational economic policies of the Centre have cut down the revenue creating a major obstacle for the progress of States like Telangana. The union government had suddenly reduced the FRBM limits restricting to around Rs.39,000 crore. Thus, the State government suffered loss of revenue amounting to Rs 15,033 crore during the current fiscal due to the FRBM restrictions.

Telangana, which was eligible to avail additional borrowing of 0.5 per cent under FRBM, had also lost out the option of mobilising Rs.6,104 crore loan due to the Centre’s restrictions to implement power reforms. It may be noted that the Chief Minister refused to implement the power reforms as it would deprive free power supply to agriculture and other subsidies extended to various sectors in the State.

The union government also stopped non-budgetary funds amounting to another Rs 20,000 crore due to the State. Thus, the Centre’s ill-conceived policies and irrational economic restrictions, caused a loss of more than Rs 40,000 crore in revenue to the State this year. Making things worse, the Centre had also imposed several restrictions which in turn had adverse impact on the State government’s agreements with various institutions to mobilise funds for implementing development and welfare programmes in the State.

Observing these developments, Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao immediately reached out to the respective institutions where the State government officials argued that Telangana’s financial condition was in great health. As the State was in a position to repay the loans, any violation of the agreements was inappropriate. Accordingly, these financial institutions which examined the records, responded positively and assured to honour the agreements made in the past, officials said.

By making Telangana financially vulnerable, the BJP government at the Centre was creating obstacles for the State’s progress. While Telangana is setting an example for others with its outstanding progress in all fields, the BJP has been conspiring to slow it down. Due to the Centre’s inefficient and inappropriate decisions, the progress of the States like Telangana is getting hampered, they said.

The State government is planning to expose these conspiracies during the upcoming Assembly session.