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Telangana pins hope on 14th finance panel report

CM to seek for special status to bail it out of the huge debt burden
Hyderabad: The Telangana government has pinned its hopes on 14th finance commission that arrived in the state on Thursday. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will meet the panel on Friday and unveil the government’s vision for development.
He will seek special status for the state to bail it out of the huge debt burden and 50 per cent share in Central taxes. The government wants waiver of Rs 6,000 crore loans availed from the Centre earlier, which was the Telangana share of loans.
The Telangana government wants the Centre to exempt excise, petroleum and agriculture produce from the proposed Goods and Service Tax (GST) replacing VAT. Finance minister Mr Etela Rajender said that the undivided state had lost Rs 17,595 crore since the introduction of VAT in 2005, but the Centre had compensated only Rs 5,000 crore.
He added that Centre still owes Rs 12,000 crore VAT collections to undivided state, of which the TS share was Rs 5,126 crore (41.66 per cent).
“Without paying the arrears, if the Centre tries to bring GST, it will have adverse impact on state’s finances. The Centre is planning to bring central sales tax to zero per cent. If that happens, the TS will lose Rs 4,840 crore. All these issues will be taken up with the finance commission,” Mr Rajender said.
The CM has hosted a lunch for commission chairman and members at Falaknuma
Palace on Friday.
Mr Rao asked all the Heads of Departments (HoDs) to submit comprehensive reports on existing plans and future plans and the amount required for implementing them in the next five years.
Mr Rao will also brief the commission about the outcome of the Intensive Household Survey done on August 18 to check bogus beneficiaries of government schemes.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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