The State government secured a major relief in terms of borrowings for strengthening power sector.
The government has received approved for raising approximately ₹10,200 crore under the UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana) scheme from the Union government. The development follows the meeting of Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and Finance Special Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao with Union Finance Secretary on Wednesday. UDAY was launched with an overall aim of operational and financial turnaround of DISCOMs through efficiency improvements and financial restructuring in generation, transmission and distribution.
The Chief Secretary and the Finance Special Chief Secretary are camping in the national capital along with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. The meeting comes in the light of the Chief Minister’s direction to the State administration to take up the pending issues with the Central government.
“The Union Finance Secretary has already issued orders in this regard,” a senior official privy to the development to The Hindu. There is however no clarity on whether the State could go ahead with raising open market borrowings as projected in the Budget estimates. As against the ₹52,167 crore OMBs projected in the Budget, the Centre had reportedly permitted raising ₹23,000 crore, going by the recent statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office.
The two senior officials also called on Union Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey and held discussions with him related to procurement of foodgrain, especially paddy, from Telangana.
Mr. Pandey is understood to have considered the State’s request positively. The development assumes significance in the light of the restrictions imposed by the Union government on procurement of par boiled rice and the issue had become a bone of contention between the State and Central governments. The Chief Minister staged a dharna in New Delhi in protest against the “restrictions” imposed by the Centre in paddy procurement. “The Union Food Secretary was sympathetic towards our request. He had assured that he will consider the request and issue orders accordingly,” the official said.
