Harish Rao accuses TS Congress of selective statistics in finance White Paper
Hyderabad: Former finance minister and BRS MLA T. Harish Rao in the Assembly on Wednesday said that the party had laid strong foundations for the state’s development, hinting that the White Paper on finance released by the Congress sought to kick off a political blame game.
He said some figures that have been changed are cited to apportion blame on the previous government.
In his address to the Assembly, he said, “Various committees had earlier stated that income generated by the Telangana region was being spent outside the region… the need arose for the separate state, hence the 41.6 per cent revenue figure quoted in the White Paper is not surprising.”
“The government has chosen issues that are convenient to it. Instead of debt-to-GSDP ratio, the government chose to compare revenue receipts to GSDP ratio. The Central government’s debt to GDP ratio is 56 per cent while for Telangana, it is 27.8 percent for 2023-24 fiscal. Telangana is much ahead of others in creating its own resources. The capital expenditure rose and expenditure on parameters like health increased, resulting in increased institutional deliveries in the state,” Harish Rao said.
Citing reasons for increase in debt, he said, “Coronavirus led to fall in finances, after which the Centre asked states to avail of loans for capital expenditure. Demonetisation also led to fall in income. Centre gave scope to cross the FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility Budget Management Act) limit and we did not stop the welfare schemes all through, giving Rs 72,000 crore in Rythu Bandhu alone, since its inception. The Centre did not give our due share of taxes as they took them in the form of cess not shared with the state governments. Nearly Rs 1 lakh crore was not given by the Centre, which would have reduced our debt burden.”
He said that the loans availed of by SPVs (special purpose vehicles) have also been included in the White Paper. “There is jugglery of statistics being created to evade the Six Guarantees and there is nothing new in the paper. The state’s financial situation has been vouched for by Central agencies but projecting situation like this will affect credibility and lead to fall in investments in the state as the government itself is projecting things in poor light,” he said.
Recounting the BRS’s achievements, he said, “We were 10 in 2014, but grew to be the first in per capita income by 2023. The state government did not avail of the 0.5 per cent waiver to FRBM limits and did not accept installation of electric meters to borewell pump sets and had to forego a loan of Rs 35,000 crore, benefitting 70 lakh farmers.”
“The Congress-ruled states like Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh have availed of this facility to take loans. The repayment capacity of the Telangana state is high and states ruled until recently by Congress, like Punjab and Rajasthan, is less. The loans of corporations, like the civil supplies corporation, rose as it took loans to pay farmers on time, but the Centre delayed payments, adding to debt burden,” Harish Rao said.
