HYDERABAD: In a double whammy, the Telangana state government has had to deal with significant reductions in FRBM loans from the Centre during the first half of this fiscal (April to September 2022-23), as well as massive cuts in Central grants and Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), which have altered the TS Budget plans for 2022-23.
Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has roped in chief secretary Somesh Kumar and finance officials to put the state finances back on track without burdening people to offset the losses on account of the Centre’s fund cuts to Telangana in the first half of this fiscal.
The Centre has imposed a loan cut of over Rs 15,000 crore for this fiscal. The state government has estimated to get Rs 41,002 crore from the Centre in the form of grants and CSS schemes in the first half of this fiscal but received just Rs 5,687 crore so far. The Union ministry of rural development imposed cuts in funds for the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) and National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM).
Following this, the Chief Secretary, finance special chief secretary K.Ramakrishna Rao and other senior officials of the finance department swung into action to shore up revenue earnings of the state government.
Official sources said the CS has suggested several measures to the CM and also to the cabinet sub-committee on revenue mobilisiation headed by finance minister T.Harish Rao to augment state revenues without burdening the people. The CM was reportedly all praises for CS for his ‘practical ideas’ on revenue generation and asked him to go ahead to execute his plans in coordination with departments concerned.
He reportedly suggested measures on how to reclaim the state’s share in valuable lands in Hyderabad belonging to the Central PSUs that were allotted lands by the previous state governments and now became defunct.
The state governments in Undivided AP have allocated lands to the extent of about 7,200 acres to six Central PSUs in and around Hyderabad, including Hindustan Cables Limited, Hindustan Fluorocarbons Limited, Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited, Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), Cement Corporation of India Limited (CCI) and Ordinance factories. The market price of these open lands is said to be over Rs 40,000 crore. If reclaimed and auctioned, these land parcels would fetch huge revenues for the state government.
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