HYDERABAD: Telangana's financial difficulties are far from over as the estimated overall revenue shortfall is pegged at Rs 60,000 crore this year alone. Amid concerns over the dip in income generation for the fiscal year 2022-23, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the state's borrowing limit had been reduced to Rs 23,000 crore by the Centre from the proposed Rs 53,000 crore.
Given that Rs 30,000 crore gap in borrowings will be hard to bridge, the budget estimates will be drastically altered, sources said. The CM's admission on limited borrowings are an enough indication that the Centre's grants are not going to exceed Rs 10,000 crore this year. The consequent loss would be around Rs 30,000 crore, thereby bringing the total revenue shortfall to Rs 60,000 crore, sources said.
Previously, it was estimated that borrowings to the tune of Rs 19,000 crore would be reduced. Going by the CM's assertions, the loss appears to be much more as the state will have to generate its own sources of income to meet the budget estimates.
Ironically, on the day the CM spoke about the Centre arbitrarily paring down Telangana's borrowing limits, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a public meeting in Uttar Pradesh that the youth should not fall for freebies offered by governments .
Focus on relief efforts, put politics aside, BJP tells CM
Reacting to chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's visit to flood-affected areas on Sunday, BJP leaders said that the CM woke up from his slumber and travelled to flood-affected areas, only due to pressure created by them. They also laid down a list of 11 demands to the CM.
"In the last eight years, Hyderabad city witnessed many flood-like situations, but never did the CM visit flood-hit areas. Now he is out on tour and we must appreciate him. But these tours should not just be for namesake; necessary relief measures should be initiated," said Rajya Sabha member and BJP's former state chief, K Laxman, in a statement.
Laxman demanded that the TRS government spell out what measures have been rendered to people whenever floods have hit in the last eight years, warning that the BJP will not spare the CM if he uses the tour as an opportunity to criticise the central government.
Separately, BJP Goshamahal MLA Raja Singh issued 11 flood-related demands to the TRS government. He asked the CM to reveal how much the Centre has been granting for disaster management, saying, "TRS government did not realise the mistake even though high court pointed out that the 1,000 crore funds given by the Centre was not utilised by the state."
The MLA also demanded that the state government help farmers in flood-affected areas by providing investment assistance, supplying fertiliser and seeds at no cost.
DK Aruna, the BJP's national vice-president, joined both in saying that the TRS government should take more effective measures in flood-prone low-lying areas to avoid losses in the event of heavy rains, in the next two months.
"The TRS government should put politics aside and focus on relief efforts as well as on repairing tanks and small water bodies that have been breached due to heavy rains," she said.
