Union Budget totally disappointing, says Telangana CM

The Union Budget proposals are 'totally disappointing' and the Centre has shown discrimination towards Telangana by imposing substantial cuts in funds to be released to the state, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said here on Saturday. He said the Centres allocations in the budget may have an adverse impact on the development of Telangana, "which is a progressive state." Rao said it was 'atrocious' that the Centre had reduced the ratio of the State in central taxes and added that there was a danger of funds scarcity for many welfare and development programs due to the 'heavy cuts' in the Central funds, an official release quoted him as saying.

Rao observed that it was the Constitutional right of every state to have a share in the Central taxes, he said Rs 19,718 crore was due from the Centre to the Telangana in 2019-20 fiscal. In the last Budget, the Centre had announced that this amount would be paid to Telangana. But in the revised estimates, it was reduced to Rs 15,987 crore, he alleged.

As the state anticipated getting Rs 19,718 crore, the reduction led to the states' financial planning going awry, he said. The share of states in funds is to be released after collection of taxes and the funds are released according to the proposals declared in the budget, he said.

Though there were occasions when a variation of one percent or less than that was seen, reducing funds to the tune of a whopping 18.9 percent in 2019-20 clearly demonstrated the Centres' faulty fiscal management, he said. There would be two types of loss to the state on the funds to be allocated to Telangana, he said.

The first was the Centre accepting the proposals of the 15th Finance Commission, reducing the States share of funds from 42 percent to 41 percent, he said. Secondly, Telangana was given 2.437 percent of share in the past, which was reduced to 2.13 percent this fiscal, a direct decrease of Rs 2,381 crore of funds from the centre to the state, he said.

Telangana would be adversely affected on the urban development front also as there is a substantial cut in the Budget on funds to be allocated for the purpose, he said. The Centre has not provided any help to Telangana on major irrigation projects constructed by the state government, 'Mission Bhagiratha' (supply of safe drinking water to every household) and Mission Kakatiya (revival of old water bodies) schemes, though NITI Aayog had recommended providing Rs 24,000 crore to the latter two programs, he alleged.

Rao also said the Centre had not announced any progressive measures to get over the economic recession that the country is going through...