Uttam predicts severe debt crisis in Telangana

Hyderabad, March 29 (INN): Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Tuesday predicted a severe debt crisis in Telangana State due to huge borrowings by the TRS Government during its 21-month regime.

Speaking on Appropriation Bill for 2016-17 in the State Legislative Assembly, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the TRS Government's debts in three years would be higher than the outstanding that it inherited from erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh at the time of bifurcation. "The Public Debt Outstanding increased to Rs. 83,845 Crore in 2014-15, then to Rs. 100,708 Crore in 2015-16 and this is all set to cross Rs. 123,821 Crore in 2016-17. It means that the State Government borrowed Rs. 22,134 Cr in 2014-15 and another Rs. 16,862 Crore in 2015-16. The total borrowings by TRS Govt so far have been Rs. 38,996 Crore. If we add Rs. 23,113.54 Crore which TRS Govt proposes to take as loan during 2016-17, our total borrowings would increase to Rs. 123,821.49 crore. That means Telangana Govt would have borrowed Rs. 62,109.99 Crore, which will be higher than the actual debts which we inherited from united Andhra Pradesh," he said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said besides direct borrowing, the State Government was raising loans through different corporations by giving Guarantees. "In 2016-17, State Government is planning to raise about Rs. 25,000 Crore loans as cash; Rs. 17,000 crore for 2BHK, Rs. 20,000 Crore for Mission Bhagiratha and another Rs. 20,000 crore for power projects. The total borrowing/guarantees this year alone will be around Rs. 82,000 Crore. This will be much higher than the debts/guarantees which Telangana inherited from 56-year-old united AP," he said adding that the State would be under severe debt trap due to the TRS Government's way of functioning and it would impact future generations,

The TPCC chief also slammed the TRS Government for not spending the allocated budgets. "As against the budget of Rs. 100,637 Cr in 2014-15, only Rs. 62,000 Cr were spent. Similarly, the budget of Rs. 115,689 Crore for 2015-16 was revised to Rs. 100,062 Crore and only about Rs. 82,000 Crore have been spent so far. In view of experiences of 2014-15 and 2015-16, we are uanble to trust that the State Government will spend Rs. Rs.130,415 Crore during 2016-17," he said.

He also objected to the proposed sale of government land in the State to raise over Rs. 10,000 crore. "At one side we are borrowing huge loans. On the other, we are selling away our assets like land. These moves are not good for Telangana State," he said.

The TPCC chief said that the State Government has remained non-responsive to the farmers' suicide and drought situation. Stating that farmers of Telangana lost four crop seasons in a row, he said this year agriculture is likely to register a negative growth of -13.3%. He said that ongoing Rabi season was likely to be even worse as the crop area has decreased by -49%.

He accused the TRS Government of resorting to large scale irregularities. He said there were several discrepancies in tender process for Palamuru Rangareddy project and most of the tenders appeared like stage-managed. Similarly, he said works worth crores of rupees were allotted to contractors on nomination basis for Pranahita project.