Budget spending is better than previous regimes: Eatala

Hyderabad, March 19 (INN): Finance Minister Eatala Rajender said that the Telangana Government has so far spent 86.5% of budget for 2015-16 and said the percentage could increase further.

Replying to the debate on State's budget for 2016-17 in Legislative Assembly on Saturday, Eatala said that no State in the country spends 100% of budget allocations. He said even in erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh the average spending during the last 10 years was between 67-88 per cent. He said that the TRS Government would silence the entire opposition by spending entire budget of Rs. 1.30 lakh during 2016-17.

Etala said as per the report of Auditor General, by December 2015, an amount of Rs. 66,465 crore was spent. He said since the report on last quarters is usually delayed and State Government spend about 30-42% funds during this quarter, he said the overall spending percentage for 2015-16 would be much higher. He said based on the experience of previous two years, realistic budget was allocated for each department.

The Finance Minister also claimed that there has been a significant increase in State's revenue by nearly 20% this year. During October to December, the Excise Tax collection was Rs. 1129 crore, Transport Tax was Rs. 614 Cr and Stamps & Registration generated about Rs. 759 crore. He said similar revenues were expected during the financial year 2016-17. He said that the State has witnessed a good growth rate despite drought and adverse seasonal conditions during the last two years.

Eatala said that Telangana ranks top in welfare sector. He said that the previous regimes have spent very meager amounts for the welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes, Minorities and Women & Child Welfare programmes. Furnishing the figures, he said that the previous Congress Government had spent only Rs. 2500 Crore on these sectors during 2010-11. In the last year of its governance in 2013-14, the Congress Govt had spent only Rs. 4091 crore on welfare sector, he said adding that the budget on welfare has been increased to Rs. 16,169 Cr in the financial year 2016-17.

The Finance Minister said immediately after formation of Telangana State, the TRS Government had spent Rs. 4035 Cr on these sectors during 2014-15. The amount was raised to Rs. 11,392 Cr in 2015-16. While the previous Congress Govt constructed about 2,000 KM roads in 10 years, TRS Govt constructed 8,000 KM roads in just 20 months. As against the spending of Rs. 7,000 Cr in 10 years on Road & Buildings Dept, the TRS Govt had so far spent about Rs. 6,000 Cr.

Eatala said that the TRS Government has resolved the financial crisis and put an end to the era of power cuts. He said 24,000 MW energy would be generated by 2019. He said Rs. 5,000 Cr subsidy was being provided to the agriculture sector. He said nearly Rs. 40,000 crore have been allocated for agriculture sector, which includes Rs. 25,000 crore for irrigation.

The Finance Minister also listed out other schemes being implemented by the State Government and claimed that the growth and development of Telangana would be ensured with full utilisation of budget.