Speaker Kodela Siva Prasada Rao on Friday adjourned the Assembly sine die after the Appropriation Bill was passed. The House passed the Appropriation Bill with a voice vote amid doubts expressed by the Opposition YSR Congress as to how the government is planning to mobilise resources for its listed spending when the expected income (revenue) from all sources is falling short of Rs.1.13 lakh crore budget.
Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, in his reply to the debate on the Bill that went on for over three hours, said everybody was convinced by the government’s policies except the Leader of the Opposition Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy. “We are trying to appropriate the misappropriation done for 10 years by the previous government that includes over 5-year rule of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy”, the Minister said.
Even the revenue gap of Rs. 20,000 crore to Rs. 25,000 crore estimated by the Opposition would be met from different sources including higher Central grants and debt financing besides direct devolution from the Centre and State’s own tax and non-tax revenue.
The Minister, however, exuded confidence that the revenue gap would be much lesser than the extent being put out by the Opposition.
The Finance Minister ridiculed Mr. Jagan’s contention over the reduced non-plan expenditure stating that he should, in fact, feel happy about the increased capital/plan expenditure. It was a realistic and practical budget and some departments had to bear the cut in administrative expenses, he said.
On the increase in VAT on petrol and diesel, Mr. Ramakrishnudu said the intention was not to earn heavily but to balance the shrinking revenue of Rs. 150 crore every month due to reduced oil prices in the international market. He said the government would examine giving statutory support to BC Sub-Plan and reiterated that ineligible housing beneficiaries would not be paid pending bills.
Mr. Jagan alleged that the government had fudged the budget figures with an intention to get Central grants to meet the gap between non-plan expenditure and sum of State’s own resources and Central devolution of funds as provided in the 13{+t}{+h}Finance Commission report, putting the State’s reputation at stake.
Earlier, R.V.S.K. Ranga Rao and K. Raghupathi (both YSRCP) and K. Srinivasulu (TDP) also spoke on the bill while ministers P. Pulla Rao and K. Mrunalini gave clarifications.
Meanwhile, the Speaker said the House had met for 61.45 hours in 15 sittings during which 11 bills were passed apart from taking up other regular business.
