HYDERABAD: Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has called the Union Budget 2020 ‘totally disappointing’. He said that Telangana would be adversely affected by major cuts in budgetary allocations and charged the central government of discrimination.
“It is sheer incompetence of the Centre to decrease the ratio of the state in Central funds. Normally, funds are given to the states according to the Budget proposals. Reducing the funds by 18.9% in 2019-20 clearly demonstrated the Centre’s faulty fiscal management. This has adversely impacted Telangana,” he said.
“It is atrocious that the Centre has reduced the ratio of the state in the central taxes. There is a danger of having a fund scarcity for several welfare schemes and development programmes being implemented in the state,” he said. The CM held a four-hour long discussion with officials at Pragati Bhavan on the Budget proposals and its impact on the state.
He was also upset over the Budget not providing funds for the state’s projects like Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya. Niti Ayog had recommended Rs 24,000 crore for them.
“The Centre is committing a fraud and cheating on the GST front. The Centre has not given any clarity on these (compensation) funds in the Budget,” he said. Among his main grouses was the Centre accepting the 15th Finance Commission’s proposal, reducing the state’s share of funds from 42% to 41%. Earlier, Telangana was given 2.437% of share and this financial year it was reduced to 2.133%. “With this, there will be direct decrease of Rs 2,381 crore of funds from the Centre.”
He said the Centre, which had cut Rs 3,731 crore funds from the share it had announced in Parliament in 2019-20 financial year, is now proposing Rs 16,726 crore in 2020-21. “There is no link between what the Centre is promising to the states and what it actually is releasing.”
“It is sheer incompetence of the Centre to decrease the ratio of the state in Central funds. Normally, funds are given to the states according to the Budget proposals. Reducing the funds by 18.9% in 2019-20 clearly demonstrated the Centre’s faulty fiscal management. This has adversely impacted Telangana,” he said.
“It is atrocious that the Centre has reduced the ratio of the state in the central taxes. There is a danger of having a fund scarcity for several welfare schemes and development programmes being implemented in the state,” he said. The CM held a four-hour long discussion with officials at Pragati Bhavan on the Budget proposals and its impact on the state.
He was also upset over the Budget not providing funds for the state’s projects like Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya. Niti Ayog had recommended Rs 24,000 crore for them.
“The Centre is committing a fraud and cheating on the GST front. The Centre has not given any clarity on these (compensation) funds in the Budget,” he said. Among his main grouses was the Centre accepting the 15th Finance Commission’s proposal, reducing the state’s share of funds from 42% to 41%. Earlier, Telangana was given 2.437% of share and this financial year it was reduced to 2.133%. “With this, there will be direct decrease of Rs 2,381 crore of funds from the Centre.”
He said the Centre, which had cut Rs 3,731 crore funds from the share it had announced in Parliament in 2019-20 financial year, is now proposing Rs 16,726 crore in 2020-21. “There is no link between what the Centre is promising to the states and what it actually is releasing.”
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