Show off by TRS Govt will harm Telangana: Shabbir Ali

Hyderabad, March 16 (INN): Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir warned that the show off and insane borrowing of loans by TRS Government would hurt the interest of Telangana State.

Initiating the debate on State Budget for 2016-17 in Telangana Legislative Council on Wednesday, Shabbir Ali accused the TRS Government of being unrealistic in dealing with State's finance. He said as against the budget of Rs. 1 lakh crore for 2014-15, only Rs. 62,000 Cr were spent. Similarly, Finance Minister Eatala Rajender presented a budget of Rs. 115,689 Cr for 2015-16. After one year, he himself admitted that the estimations were unrealistic and they have been revised to Rs. 100,062 Cr. Consequently, almost 14% of the budget was reduced. Plan allocations for many departments were cut off and about Rs. 6,255.14 Cr allocated for Social Services were cut.

"Why are you so obsessed with flashy figures like Rs. 1 Lakh Cr. Your tall claims of Telangana being the richest State in India has only caused damage," he said.

The Congress leader strongly criticised TRS Government's decision to borrow huge loans for Mission Bhagiratha, 2BHK Housing and also for establishing power plants. He said borrowing of Rs. 40,000 Cr for Mission Bhagiratha and Rs. 15,000 Cr for 2BHK Housing in a single year would violate the FRBM norms as both are non-revenue generating projects and there are no returns on capital amount. He said after the moratorium period of two years, the Telangana State would be forced to spend Rs. 7,000 Cr annually on interest and re-payments of these loans. "Whether you will seek Grand-in-Aids from Central Government or increase taxes to pay interest and repay these loans?" he asked.

Shabbir Ali alleged that the State Government has completely neglected the agriculture sector. He expressed concern over reduction in net irrigated area by huge proportion. The area under food grains has come down from 26.13 Lakh Ha in 2014-15 to 20.46 Lakh Ha in 2015-16. As against the overall production of food grains including cereals, millets and pulses of 72.20 Lakh Ha in 2014-15, it has come down to 49.35 lakh hectares in 2015-16. The production of rice has come down by 34%, Maize by 30%, Cereals & millets by 33% and pulses by 5%. This Rabi season is likely to be even worse due to decrease in cultivation area by almost 49% with 5.32 Lakh Ha as against normal area of 10.08 Lakh Ha, he said.

He said hundreds of farmers committed suicide and their families did not get required help. In 2014-15, State Government did not declare drought. In 2015-16, 231 mandals were declared drought hit. As against the relief of Rs. 2,515 Crore sought by the Telangana Government, Centre provided only Rs. 791 Crore. "How do propose to fill this gap? No provision has been made in this year's budget to help the drought-affected farmers," he said while insisting that the government clear off all pending dues of crop loan waiver scheme in single take this year.

Shabbir Ali also accused the TRS Government of burdening the common people with a power tariff hike of Rs. 2,000 Cr and another Rs. 3,000 Cr towards Fuel Surcharge Adjustment.

The Congress leader said not a single head under welfare sector, including SC, ST, BC or Minorities, registered 100% spending during the last two years. He said it was meaningless to allocate huge funds and do not spend them. He said not even 50% of budget allocated for Minorities Welfare was utilised during the last two years.

Shabbir Ali questioned the State Government's authority to change laws through GOs. "Telangana is the 29th State of India and not a separate country. Only Parliament and Legislature are empowered to enact and amend laws. Telangana Government was reprimanded by courts on more than 10 occasions for its attempts to change the laws through GOs," he said.