K Chandrasekhar Rao to present Telangana budget today

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will present a vote-on-account budget in the state assembly on Friday. The state cabinet meet held on Thursday approved the budget for the year 2019-20. The cabinet also approved the supplementary demands fo grant for the financial year. Sources said the state government would introduce a budget for 2 lakh crore of which a major chunk would be allocated for the irrigation, welfare and agriculture sectors.


The first cabinet meeting after the addition of 10 more ministers also gave the nod to the proposal for replacing the ordinance with a bill to amend certain provisions of the Telangana Goods and Services Tax (GST Act 2017). Though the state government can go for a full-fledged budget as it has been only recently voted to power for another five years, the chief minister opted for a vote on account for six months on the lines of the vote-on-account budget presented by the NDA government at the Centre earlier. The move comes as the TRS government felt there was no clarity on financial assistance from the Centre for various projects and schemes and devolution of funds.

The CM has to present the budget as he has retained the finance portfolio with himself. The budget speech will be made in the assembly at 11.30 am. Sources said that like previous state budgets, the government would allocate over 25,000 crore for the irrigation sector and over 40,000 crore for welfare schemes like Kalyana Lakshmi, Shadi Mubarak, pensions, scholarships and welfare schemes for SCs, STs and BCs. The government is likely to make adequate allocation for agriculture.