Telangana to take legal course for rightful share in Krishna River water: Harish Rao

Finance Minister T Harish Rao asked BJP leaders from the State to convince the Centre, if they were committed to Telangana’s development

Hyderabad: The Telangana government will fight for its rightful share in the Krishna river water and even approach the court for justice over the Centre’s lackadaisical attitude in addressing the issue. Though the State had approached the Supreme Court on the issue earlier, it withdrew the petition after the Centre assured to resolve it. “But so far, the Centre has not acted on it. We will not hesitate to approach the court again as we have our concerns over the share of river water,” Finance Minister T Harish Rao said in his reply during the six-hour marathon discussion on the State Budget in the Assembly on Wednesday.

The Telangana government would also join the issue with that of the Centre’s pending dues amounting to Rs 1.27 lakh crore. Harish also launched a broadside against the Centre over its discrimination towards Telangana over the allocation of funds, despite emulating its schemes and also presenting awards for its performance in different sectors. He rubbished remarks from BJP MLAs that the State Budget estimates comprised excessive projections.

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“The Centre is not willing to honour the recommendations of apex bodies such as the Finance Commission and NITI Aayog, the laws enacted by Parliament and even its electoral promises. If there was a timely release of the dues, Telangana would have developed at a faster pace,” he said, asking BJP leaders from the State to convince the Centre, if they were committed to Telangana’s development.

The Finance Minister said the BJP government at the Centre got 21 per cent of its revenue through cesses and surcharges, which was not being shared with the States. If the Centre devolved the entire tax collections at 41 per cent of its total income, Telangana would have received Rs 44,000 crore.

Due to the Centre’s unilateral decisions, the State government suffered a net deficit of Rs 15,033 crore for infrastructure development. “After the farmers’ protests near New Delhi opposing the three contentious laws, the Centre is now getting irritated with a simple mention of ‘farmers’ or ‘agriculture’. It has reduced allocations for fertilizer subsidy, PM KISAN Samman Nidhi, PM Fasal Bima Yojana, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), food subsidy and even market intervention fund, among others,” he said.

Allaying fears of the Opposition over rising debt, Harish clarified that the State’s debt to GSDP ratio would come down from 24.3 per cent in 2022-23 to Rs 23.8 per cent in 2023-24, while the Centre’s debt was growing faster than the GDP from 55.9 per cent in 2022-23 to 56.2 per cent next fiscal. The debt to GDP ratio of the Centre was beyond the permissible limits of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act. “Of the total amount borrowed by the Centre for the 2023-24 fiscal, around 48.7 per cent is spent on daily requirements and pay interests. However, Telangana is availing loans towards capital expenditure and creating assets for the State,” he said, adding that with 90.3 per cent accuracy, the State government realised the State Owned Tax Revenue (SOTR) targets.

The Minister said except for the 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 fiscals, Telangana remained a revenue-surplus State. Its GSDP was projected to hit Rs 13.5 lakh crore this fiscal. Harish found fault with the BJP government for waiving Rs 19.34 lakh crore of corporate tax and slashing surcharge on super rich (with income tax of more than Rs 5 crore) from 37 per cent to 27 per cent, but hiking LPG and fuel prices, burdening the common man.

The Centre was imposing cuts in borrowings of Telangana and other non-BJP ruled States but was raising huge loans on its own. “The Centre is raising Rs 1 lakh crore borrowings every month, Rs 4,618 crore every day and Rs 192 crore every hour,” he said.