Union Budget: Telangana gets raw deal again; AP gets handful

None of the major requests from the State were accommodated in the Union Budget for fund allocation.

Hyderabad: Telangana has found no mention in the Union Budget for 2024-25 presented in the Parliament on Tuesday. While it did not surprise many, what was appalling was the Centre honouring the promises made under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act for Andhra Pradesh, but not Telangana. None of the requests from the State government were accommodated in the Union Budget.

In her budget speech, union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had nothing to offer for the State except the Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, which was but targeted to largely benefit the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh.

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Not so surprisingly, Sitharaman showered gifts and special packages for Andhra Pradesh led by its ally TDP including funds to fulfill the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. Speaking in the Parliament, she said concerted efforts would be made to fulfill the commitments under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, but allocated specific funds only to Andhra Pradesh, ignoring Telangana’s needs.

“Rs 15,000 crore will be arranged in the current financial year to develop Andhra Pradesh’s capital. Grants for backward regions will be provided to three districts as per the AP Reorganisation Act,” she said, fulfilling the wishlist of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. She assured to grant more funds for the capital development in future.

The union Finance Minister also declared that the Centre was fully committed to fund and complete the Polavaram project, terming it as crucial for food security. She also assured special assistance for development of industrial nodes along the Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor, besides infrastructure development for Orvakallu and Kopparthi industrial areas in Andhra Pradesh. However, she did not quantify on the amount of funds.

In the last 10 years, the previous BRS government submitted numerous representations to the Centre to fulfill around 35 promises made to Telangana under the AP Reorganisation Act. However, there has been no response. Though the Centre sanctioned the much-awaited Tribal University at Mulugu last year, no additional funds were allocated this year. Neither the steel plant at Bayyaram nor the railway coach factory at Kazipet which were part of the Act, received any funds.

Similarly, national project status for irrigation projects like Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme was also denied and requests for central institutes like IIM were ignored. Appeals for industrial corridors and new handloom and power loom clusters too received no response.

Despite Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy making several trips to Delhi in recent times and meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and various other union Ministers, none of the requests were considered. It may be noted that the Congress government was pinning high hopes on significant financial support from the Centre to deliver its electoral promises.

While Andhra Pradesh was assured of Backward Areas Development Fund, the pending amount of Rs.1,350 crore to Telangana for last three years i.e. Rs 450 crore per year, had no place in the budget. The State’s requests for leather parks in Karimnagar and Jangaon and mega textile park at Warangal were ignored.

The Chief Minister had sought Rs 10,000 crore for his pet project – Musi Riverfront Development under the National Rivers Conservation Plan. He also sought Rs 16,100 crore under Jal Jeevan Mission to provide tap drinking water connections to around 7.85 lakh households in the State. The union government was requested to release pending amount of around Rs 1,893 crore towards paddy procurement. However, the Centre turned a blind eye to all these requests.