Minister of Municipal Administration and Urban Development and TRS working president KT Rama Rao has hit out at the Centre over the raw deal given to Telangana. KTR has said that the Centre has denied funds for the state's flagship projects, like Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha, and has further reduced the budget to the state from Rs 1,037 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 889 crore in the current budget.
Expressing disappointment, KTR said that the BJP-led Centre yet again failed to honour the pending promises in the AP Reorganization Act 2014.
Taking to Twitter, in a series of tweets, the minister said that the budget cut would adversely impact the development of towns and cities.
"Utterly disappointed with the #UnionBudget2020 While economic survey showcases Telangana as a performer & a progressive state, reducing Telangana’s share in Central taxes is bound to impact the implementation of various development & welfare initiatives of the state government," KTR said.
Utterly disappointed with the #UnionBudget2020 While economic survey showcases Telangana as a performer & a progressive state, Reducing Telangana’s share in Central taxes is bound to impact the implementation of various development & welfare initiatives of the state government
— KTR (@KTRTRS) February 1, 2020
Slamming the Centre for their poor economic performance, he said, "The fact that the States' share in Central taxes has gone down by an unprecedented 18.9% in FY 2019-20 proves how poorly the Union Govt is managing the economic affairs of the country. This is going to severely impact Telangana state’s planning."
In the budget for the financial year 2020-2021, the Centre has not allocated any funds to the state irrigation projects — Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha. "Though NITI Ayog had recommended Union government to extend financial assistance of Rs 24,000 Crores to Telangana’s flagship initiatives Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha, unfortunately Union Govt did not allocate even a single rupee in Union Budget 2020," KTR said.
The minister said that the state had sought financial assistance for several irrigation projects and welfare initiatives. However, the Union Government, on the contrary, has resorted to massive budget cuts for various sectors like agriculture, education, healthcare, rural development, etc., he said.
"None of the pending promises of AP Reorganisation Act have been kept and Telangana’s request to declare National project status for Kaleshwaram project and Palamuru project have been ignored yet again."
"Telangana’s request on supporting industrial corridors between Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Hyderabad-Nagpur, Hyderabad-Warangal have been yet again ignored." the minister said.