Telangana extends lockdown till April 30 though tax collections are down to 2.5%
Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Saturday announced that the state Cabinet had unanimously decided to extend the ongoing coronavirus lockdown till April 30.
Making the announcement at a press conferenceafter a special meeti ng of the Cabinet, the chief minister said that there was every possibility that the state would be coronavirus-free by April 24, going by the present trend. He said the extended lockdown will be implemented very strictly.
No religious gatherings including congregations at mosques will be allowed during the period. The chief minister said students from Class I to IX will be promoted to the next grade.
Regarding the SSC exams, which were halted midway, the chief minister said, “The state government will take an appropriate decision with regard to the future of the SSC students after April 30.”
The chief minister announced that rice, flour and dal mills will be allowed to operate during the lockdown.
Chandshekar Rao said the Cabinet had unanimously decided to supply irrigation to crops under the major projects. The Cabinet decision will be informed to prime minister Narendra Modi in the night.
Chandrashekar Rao said he had written a letter to the prime minister with certain demands. In his letter, he said, “I wish to flag the impact of Covid-19 on the economy. Though the exact impact cannot be accessed at this point in time, there is unanimity among analysts and international organisations that there will be a sharp decline in GDP growth in the first two quarters.”
He brought to the notice of the PM that the impact was already being felt in the tax and non-tax revenue collections in the state. As compared to the proportionate monthly revenue of Rs 4,000 crore, actual collections were abysmally low at only Rs 100 crore in April.
He said that given the situation in Telangana, borrowing seemed to be the only option to meet expenditure. He requested the Prime Minister to defer the debt servicing including repayment of principal and interest of all State Development Loans (SDL) and the loans taken by state public sector units based on the government’s guarantee by two quarters.
