Vice Chairman of the State Planning Board B. Vinod Kumar has claimed that the Centre had not provided sufficient funds to Telangana government despite various government agencies like NITI Aayog recommending the same, and it was evident in the response of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament.
In a statement here, he said as per the Finance Minister’s statement the Centre had disbursed just ₹1.5 lakh crore in the last six years, which is ₹25,000 crore per year but the BJP leaders had been claiming much more. “It is time they realise how the Centre has been extending step-motherly treatment to Telangana,” he said.
At the same time, he said the Minister in her reply to a question from Bhongiri MP Komatireddy Venkata Reddy on the State finances had clearly stated that Telangana’s financial position was healthy. Telangana was a revenue-surplus State and the loans raised by the government were well within the stipulated limit as per the Minister’s statement.
Revenue surplus
He asked the BJP and the Congress to stop spreading rumours on the financial status of the State at least now. He reminded that the NITI Aayog had recommended ₹450 crore per annum for the development of backward regions and was approved too. But the instalment for the year 2019-20 is yet to be released.
Mr. Vinod Kumar reminded that NITI Aayog also recommended ₹19,205 crore for Mission Bhagiratha and an amount of ₹5,000 crore for Mission Kakatiya as a special grant to be released over three years. Despite number of requests, the Union Government has not released any amount.
Finance Commission
He claimed there is a shortfall in the release of grants to local bodies and State specific grants recommended by the 13th Finance Commission. Grants allocated to Telangana in the year 2014-15 amounted to ₹3139.46 crore but ₹1557.83 crore were not released to the State.
Out of the grants recommended by the 14th Finance Commission for the period 2015-20, an amount of ₹ 1428.90 crore is yet to be released to the urban local bodies. The shortfall in release of statutory grants recommended by the Finance Commission and the grants recommended by the NITI Aayog amply indicates the neglect of Telangana by the Centre, he said.
