Hyderabad: Telangana Budget for 2018-19 would not rely on Central grants for implementation of various schemes and instead would look at mobilising the amount on its own. This was needed for the smooth implementation of projects and schemes during the crucial election year.
Looking at tapping resources on its own was because the gap between government estimates on Central grants and actual realisation which had been going up year after year.
The state government had been incorporating huge Central grants in its budget every year only to realise that not even half the amount was being realised in the end.
In the past four years, the TS government estimated Rs 81,000 crore Cen tral grants in its Budgets, but got just Rs 32,000 crore.
Soon after formation of Telangana state in June 2014, the state government presented its first full-fledged Budget in November 2014, where it estimated Central grants of Rs 27,721 crore and realised just Rs 7,118 crore.
In the 2015-16 Budget, it had against estimated Central grants of Rs 12,400 crore received Rs 9,394 crore. In 2016-17, its estimate was Rs 14,557 crore and actual realisation Rs 9,074 crore. In 2017-18, against the estimate of Rs 26,857 crore, the state got Rs 6,860 crore.
Based on the analysis done on the recent Union Budget, the state government estimated Rs 30,308 crore as Central grants, but going by the previous track record, it lost hopes and instead was trying to mobilise its own resources.
This was because none of the representations made by TS government to the Centre seeking funds for Mission Bhagi-ratha, Mission Kaka-tiya and Kaleshwaram project in the Budget were honoured.
“We cannot afford to delay these projects by relying on Central grants. The track record of four years shows the Centre has least concern for TS. PM Modi himself inaugurates Mission Bhagiratha, praises it, asks all states to emulate it but was not willing to gr-ant a single rupee des-pite Niti Aayog recommending Rs 19,000 crore two years ago. Same is the case with Mission Kakatiya and Kalesh-waram project,” said Minister K.T. Rama Rao.
These three projects remained the flagship programmes of the TRS government and it was keen to complete them before the 2019 polls, irrespective of Central grants. “We want to see that people derive the benefits of these schemes in 2018. If we wait for Central funds to complete them, we would not make any headway. That's what our experience shows,” Mr Rao added.
