Upping the ante against the Opposition BJP’s criticism that TRS government is pushing the State into a debt trap, Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao has said the party failed in qualitative analysis of the State budget and exposed its lack of wisdom of economy.
The Chief Minister who came to the Legislative Council for the first time during this session intervened while Finance Minister Eatala Rajender was giving his reply to the discussion on Budget here on Wednesday.
Expressing his disappointment over the routine criticism by the Opposition, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said its remarks lacked maturity.
Debt servicing
Justifying the State borrowings which did not cross 21% of State GDP and was well within limits of FRBM Act, he said that State’s debt service was only ₹19,000 crore this year while Centre’s was ₹8.5 lakh crore, almost one third of its total budget expenditure of ₹24 lakh crore for 2018-19. Centre’s borrowings stood at 49.5 % of its GDP, he pointed out.
Justifying the borrowings for capital expenditure, he said while the combined State had spent ₹1.29 lakh crore over 10 years from 2004-2014, Telangana had spent ₹1.24 lakh crore on capital expenditure so far and its revenue growth rate this year was 22%.
Telangana was definitely a rich State.
Fiscal prudence
“Is capital expenditure for asset creation — drinking water, irrigation facility, roads, power wasteful expenditure?” he asked and asserted that the State maintained fiscal prudence.
Advising the Opposition to be responsible in its criticism, he said: “We will accept constructive criticism humbly. If you raise any concerns about corruption or pilferage in capital expenditure, officers would be careful.”
Dis incentive
Blaming the Centre for neither giving good policy support nor funds recommended by NITI Aayog for Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya, he said a progressive State was being disincentivised. Curtailing State growth would amount to curtailing nation’s growth, he said.
Launching a broadside against the successive Union governments which failed to leverage country’s economy or States’ economy despite rich natural resources in the last 71 years, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said they believed Prime Minister Modi when he spoke of cooperative federalism. But to get approval for loans the State was eligible, State representatives had to make umpteen visits.
