Taking part in the discussion on the annual financial statement on the Vote on Account budget in the Assembly on Wednesday, Srihari said the data tabled by the State government in the assembly clearly states that the State had witnessed tremendous growth in all the sectors under the leadership of the then Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao during the last 10 years.
Published Date – 14 February 2024, 05:35 PM
Hyderabad: Accusing the Congress government of trying to discredit the achievements of the 10-year tenure of the BRS government, former minister and senior BRS MLA Kadiyam Srihari alleged that though data available with the government clearly indicated that Telangana had achieved growth and prosperity in all the sectors during the last 10 years, the present government was spreading misinformation to discredit the BRS government.
Taking part in the discussion on the annual financial statement on the Vote on Account budget in the Assembly on Wednesday, Srihari said the data tabled by the State government in the assembly clearly states that the State had witnessed tremendous growth in all the sectors under the leadership of the then Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao during the last 10 years. The present size of the budget which increased from Rs.1.6 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs.2.75 lakh crore in 2024-25 itself was an indicator that the State had witnessed tremendous growth in the last one decade.
“If the State has not witnessed any growth, how can the budget size increase?”he asked.
Even the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Telangana which Rs.5.5 lakh crore during 2014-15 had touched Rs. 14.49 lakh crore, he said, adding that the GSDP would have touched Rs.18 lakh crore if the Covid-19 pandemic had not occurred. Between 2012-13 and 2022-23, the average annual GSDP growth of Telangana was 12.7 percent and GDP of India was 11.0, which shows that the State did well during the BRS regime, he added.
The BRS member further stated that Telangana stood third in Per Capita Income in the country during 2023-24 with Rs.3.43 lakh and the State’s contribution to the national economy stood at 4.8 percent. Stating that the Congress government was spreading misinformation about loans taken during the BRS government, Srihari pointed out that Telangana stood at 23rd position among 29 States with regard to loans.
“The BRS government has taken loans, but it has also created assets worth lakhs of crores. About 84.2 percent of the expenditures are covered through the revenue generated within the State. Is it not an achievement?” he asked.
During the last 10 years, Telangana‘s power consumption had increased and the government successfully managed to provide 24X7 power to all the consumers in the State, he said, adding that even in the health indicators the State had achieved a lot of growth.
“From 28th position, we have reached third position in the health sector in the country. We have increased medical colleges from five to 29. Our medical seats have increased from 850 to 3915. PG medical seats have increased from 515 to 1320,” he reminded.
Stating that the government was spreading misinformation about the Kaleshwaram project, Srihari said the State had benefited from the project a lot and that it played a vital role in the development of the State.
“Medigadda is just one component of the project. Just because some damages has occurred to a few pillars, you cannot call the entire project a failure. You order a probe and punish the guilty. We don’t have any objection,” he said.
Terming the vote on account budget as “hollow”, Srihari said the budget outlay for the year 2024-25 stood at Rs.2,75,891, whereas the Reverse Estimate stood at Rs.2.24 lakh crore. “The government should tell the people how it was going to get the additional Rs.51,000 crore. Is the government going to increase tax or take loans or is it going to get from other sources?” he said.
Commenting on the Six Guarantees, Srihari said though to implement the guarantees the government needed Rs.1.36 lakh crore, the government had allocated only Rs.53,000 crore. Similarly, the government had allocated a meagre Rs.7,000 crore for the housing scheme, whereas the scheme needs at least Rs.24,000 crore as a total of 4.16 lakh houses had to be constructed in all the constituencies, he said.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had promised to waive farm loans up to Rs.2 lakh after coming to power, but so far there was no effort from the government in that direction. “The CM should tell when he is going to waive the farm loan,” he said.
Referring to the Maha Lakshmi scheme, he said the State government had promised to provide Rs.2,500 every month to women, but no budget had been allocated for it nor the government had revealed how it was going to implement it. “The way the government has allocated budget for various schemes, it does not look like that any of the promises will be fully implemented in the next six months,” he said.
Intervening in the discussion, Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu clarified that the State government was committed to implement all the promises made by it and that the budget allocations for guarantees were for initial expenditures and that it would reflect in the full budget to be presented in coming months.
