Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi has expressed concern over the State government’s dependence on huge borrowings to fulfil its promises, which consequently is imposing additional burden on the State exchequer.
Participating in the general discussion on Budget in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, the MIM leader lamented that though the Finance Ministers were presenting impressive budgets every year, there is a huge shortfall when it comes to actuals. The State’s revenue receipts that were projected at ₹2.3 lakh crore for the current financial year, had been trimmed to ₹2.1 lakh crore in the revised estimates as funds under the State’s share of Central taxes, grants and other heads declined.
He lamented that Arogyasri rates were not revised since a long time as a result of which many private hospitals are not admitting patients. Arogyasri ceiling for admission to critical care units had been pegged at ₹4,000 a day while it is several times more in the private hospitals. He welcomed the decision to reduce the age limit for availing of Aasara pensions, but advised the government to clear close to 11 lakh new applications.
He was particularly critical of the government for not releasing funds it promised for strengthening health infrastructure in old city three years ago asking: “What is the sanctity of this House when a promise made on the floor is not kept?.” He lamented that the much awaited Charminar pedestrianisation project did not materialise and the government’s assurance on convening a meeting of the city legislators remained unfulfilled.
He expressed concern that the allocations to welfare - be it Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes or minorities - had come down in terms of budget size. “The allocation to minorities welfare is ₹1,728.71 crore, which is only 0.67% of the total budget size,” he said lamenting that Muslims were not given representation on the Public Service Commission nor were they appointed as Vice-Chancellors.
Mr. Owaisi expressed concern that encroachment of wakf lands continued in spite of government’s claims on instituting a CB-CID probe into the issue. The government had not fulfilled its promise of treating Muslim minorities on par with SCs and STs. No loans were provided through the Minority Finance Corporation in the last few years though the number of applications is around 1.5 lakh, he said.
