Telangana Cabinet meeting today to focus on fulfilling GHMC poll promises
Hyderabad: Fresh from the grand victory in GHMC elections, the Telangana State cabinet meets on Sunday at 2.30 pm with special focus on Hyderabad and to devise plans for fulfilling the poll promises the ruling TRS has made to the people in the city.
The TRS government faces an uphill task to mobilise funds to construct one lakh 2BHK houses and complete new sky ways, flyovers and multi-grade separators in the city. All these were poll promises.
The Cabinet will discuss on ways to secure loans from BRICS Bank, Hudco, Nabard and other financial institutions to execute these projects.
Chief Minister Chandra-sekhar Rao said the government will construct one lakh 2BHK houses in the city this year itself. The required funds will be allotted in the next budget (2016-17). The significance and urgency being given by the CM for implementing the two major GHMC poll promises — 2BHK houses for the poor and creating world class infrastructure facilities to transform Hyderabad into a ‘global city’ — can be gauged from the fact the cabinet meeting will be held on Sunday, a holiday, at the Secretariat.
At an average of Rs 7 lakh for each 2BHK house, the government needs to spend over Rs 7,000 crore to build one lakh houses while another Rs 30,000 crore is required to create infrastructure facilities in the city.
The government is already facing serious financial constraints due to the implementation of various welfare schemes at a cost of over Rs 30,000 crore. The Centre too is yet to give its nod for the TS government’s request for raising its borrowing limit to 3.5 per cent of the GSDP to secure more loans.
Besides, the CM has decided to allot Rs 25,000 crore for irrigation projects alone in the new budget. This amounts to almost half of the total Plan expenditure of Rs 60,000 crore. Under the circumstances, the government is left with no other option but to depend completely on loans to fulfill its poll promises. The lending agencies are raising questions over repayment capacity. The TS government has already secured loans of over Rs 13,000 crore through bonds and has taken a Rs 30,000 crore loan for the Water Grid project.
