Telangana govt focuses on welfare schemes in budget for FY 2023-24

Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Monday presented a budget of Rs 2,90,396 crore for 2023-24, up from about Rs 2.57 lakh crore last year with welfare programmes getting a lion's share of allocation.

Finance Minister T Harish Rao, who presented the budget in the Legislative Assembly, allotted Rs 2,11,685 crore towards Revenue Expenditure and Rs 37,525 crore for Capital Expenditure.

This budget was the last one tabled by the BRS government in its present (second) term.

The state government's flagship Dalit welfare scheme 'Dalit Bandhu', a brainchild of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, was allocated Rs 17,700 crore. The scheme provides financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh per beneficiary to take up any business of their choice.

The budget proposed an amount of Rs 36,750 crore as Special Development Fund for Scheduled Castes, while the Medical and Health department got Rs 12,161 crore.

An amount of Rs 12,000 crore has been proposed towards 'Aasara' social security pensions, while Rs 15,233 crore was proposed in the budget as Special Development Fund for Scheduled Tribes.

The budget proposed Rs 6,229 crore for the welfare of backward classes.

The allocation for the Panchayat Raj department in the budget was Rs 31,426 crore, while it was Rs 26,885 crore for the irrigation sector.

The amounts proposed in the budget for the Agriculture and Education departments were Rs 26,831 crore and Rs 19,093 crore respectively.

Providing statistics, Harish Rao said Telangana's share in the country's GDP grew to 4.9 per cent in 2020-21 from 4.1 per cent in 2014-15.

The per capita income of Telangana is estimated to increase from Rs 1,12,162 in 2013-14 to Rs 3,17,115 in 2022-23, he said.

Harish Rao, who alleged that the Centre created hurdles to the development of Telangana, said the Centre unilaterally imposed a cut of Rs 15,033 crore in Rs 53,970 crore included in the budget as borrowings.

The inclusion of Rs 53,970 crore in the budget as borrowings was approved by the House, he said. "These kind of cuts are against the spirit of federalism and have eroded the rights of the states," Harish Rao added.

The NITI Aayog has recommended that a grant of Rs 19,205 crore for Mission 'Bhagiratha' (scheme to supply clean drinking water to households) and Rs 5,000 crore for Mission 'Kakatiya' (revival of water bodies) may be released by the Centre to Telangana, but the Central government has not released even one paisa so far, he said.

Establishment of a Rail Coach Factory at Kazipet, Steel Plant at Bayyaram and a tribal university have been specifically mentioned in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, but these mandates have not been fulfilled even after eight-and-a-half years, Harish Rao said.

The state Cabinet approved the budget on Sunday. The Legislative Assembly would take up the debate on the budget from February 8.