Hyderabad: The TS government is expected to take some tough decisions as it completes two years in office.
Various proposals regarding hike in power tariff, RTC fares, property tax, professional courses fee, land value etc have been kept on hold for the last two years, perhaps due to the series of elections. The decisions on various hikes are expected sometime between June and August.
KCR tough decisions
With no elections expected in the near future, and the Opposition pushed to a corner, sources said the TRS government feels it is now in a position where it can take some tough decisions and put financially ailing institutions back on track.
All the municipal corporations and municipalities, barring the GHMC, are in deep financial crisis with no revision of property tax for nearly 14 years. They are seeking hike in the range of 10 per cent to 30 per cent.
The property tax hike proposals have been submitted to Chief Minister's Office in January 2015. Decision on these proposals has been on hold since then as elections for various civic bodies took place, one after the other.
In between, there were byelections for the Warangal Lok Sabha and Narayankhed and Palair Assembly seats. The TSRTC too is in the red following steep pay hike for its staff last May.
The corporation suffered its highest-ever loss of nearly Rs 700 crore in 2015-16 and has been seeking at least 10 per cent bus fare hike since October last.
Though the APSRTC hiked bus fares in last November, the TS government kept the issue on hold due to polls. The fee revision for MBBS, BDS, B.Tech, MBA and other professional courses is also expected very soon.
The revenue department has been seeking increase in land value from July 2014 which was kept pending for two years. The government is now expected to give its nod for land value hike from August this year which will result in increased registration charges for property buyers.
With regard to power tariff hike, the TS Power Distribution Companies have sought permission from TSERC to hike tariff to raise an additional Rs 1,958 crore in financial year 2016-17. TS Discoms said their annual revenue requirement was Rs 30,207 crore, while expected revenue from current tariffs was only Rs 21,418 crore — a difference of Rs 8,789 crore.
Experts expressed apprehension that the discoms would ultimately collect even this revenue deficit from consumers in a phased manner in the next few years.
