Telangana Government presents State Budget with total outlay of ₹2.91 lakh crore
The Hindu
Telangana State Government presents ₹2.91 lakh crore Budget for FY 2024-25, focusing on agriculture, welfare, and development.
The Telangana State Government has presented ₹2.91 lakh crore Budget for the Financial Year 2024-25 with emphasis on welfare and development of agriculture and allied sectors.
Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka introduced the Budget in the Assembly on July 25 with estimated revenue expenditure of ₹2.2 lakh crore and capital expenditure of ₹33,487 crore. The State’s economy continued to depend on the borrowings as could be seen from the public debt estimates placed at ₹62,112 crore for the fiscal and the debt repayment component amounting to ₹17,101 crore.
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The Budget has special focus on a few sectors, the major being agriculture, which secured major portion of the overall allocations. Agriculture for instance was allocated the lion’s share of ₹72,569 crore, one-fourth of the total outlay followed by Scheduled Caste Development (₹33,124 crore) and Scheduled Tribe Development (₹17,056 crore) contributing little more than ₹50,000 crore taking the total allocations to the three sectors to ₹1.22 lakh crore of the total outlay.
As expected, the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department was given Budgetary allocation of ₹29,816 crore indicating the Government’s focus on the development of rural areas. Irrigation Department was allocated ₹22,301 crore indicating the Government’s priority of taking up projects that could be completed with lesser expenditure and Education too was given equal priority with allocation of ₹21,292 crore. Energy Department with ₹16,410 crore and Medical and Health Department with ₹11,468 crore are other major departments which secured huge allocations.
For the twin cities, the Government allocated ₹10,000 crore for GHMC and HMDA and another ₹1,525 crore for development of regional ring road during the current fiscal while ₹9,654 crore was proposed to be allocated to the Home Department. The Finance Minister presented the Budget, the first full Budget of the Congress Government after a decade with ₹297 crore revenue surplus and fiscal deficit of ₹49,255 crore. The primary deficit estimated in the budget is ₹31,525 crore
On the revenue front, the Government has estimated own tax revenue of ₹1.38 lakh crore and non-tax revenue of ₹35,208 crore while the State’s share of central taxes is expected to be ₹26,216 crore. The Government projected the grants in aid and contributions from the Central Government at ₹21,636 crore. Though lower than the projections made by the previous BRS Government which estimated ₹41,259 crore under the head against the actuals of ₹9,729 crore, doubts persist over whether the State could get the projected amount.
Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has sought a report from the State government on a complaint that the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) had taken up works amounting to ₹387 crore in violation of rules in Varuna and Srirangapatna Assembly constituencies, allegedly on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s oral instructions.
“We are organising a health research convention, which comprises a couple of workshops, community-based learning, and also cardiac care. We also included a one-day seminar on medical education, how medical education has evolved in India and the U.K., and what we can learn from each other” said Dr. Piruthivi Sukumar Dean of the International Faculty of Medicine & Health, University of Leeds during his interaction with The Hindu.