The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has ridiculed the Congress criticism of the State Budget for 2017-18 and observed that the debt is not a burden but investment for better future of the people.
Retorting to the remarks of several Congress leaders, Minister for Industries and IT K. Taraka Rama Rao said here on Tuesday that the government would rebut the Congress in the Assembly and expose its misinformation campaign point by point. He questioned the Congress to show one State which was implementing development schemes without borrowing money.
On the criticism that the State Government was pushing the State into debt trap by borrowing huge money, Mr. Rama Rao said at a press conference that the money being borrowed was not debt but investment for better future of people.
“It's K. Chandrasekhar Rao-led TRS Government that will repay every paisa being borrowed for development of the State,” the Minister stated.
The government is going ahead with specific agenda of development and is in a position to give account of every paisa being borrowed and spent on people, the Industries Minister said.
“Over subscription to the bonds issued by the State Government recently to raise funds for taking over the debt of power utilities as part of the UDAY scheme is an ample indication of the healthy condition of the State’s economy,” Mr. Rama Rao said. Giving the status of debt of several progressive States in the country, the Minister said the debt of Gujarat stands at ₹1.65 lakh crore against the budget outlay of ₹1.51 lakh crore (2016-17), it was ₹3.56 lakh crore and ₹2.57 lakh crore, respectively, for Maharashtra, ₹1.9 lakh crore and ₹1.35 lakh crore for Andhra Pradesh, ₹2.52 lakh crore and ₹1.48 lakh crore for Tamil Nadu and ₹1.75 lakh crore and ₹1.63 lakh crore for Karnataka as against ₹1 lakh crore and ₹1.49 lakh crore for Telangana.
Stating that GSDP was not decided by a State Government or a Chief Minister but by the Centre (Directorate of Economics), Mr. Rama Rao said the ₹6.54 lakh crore GSDP of Telangana was 11th largest in the country and bigger than Bihar, Haryana, Punjab and even Sri Lanka. The debt ratio
to GDP/GSDP of Telangana (17.43%) was also lowest compared 69% of Government of India and 21.2% average of 29 States for 2016-17.
Similarly, the debt ration in GSDP was 31% for Punjab, 30% for Uttar Pradesh, 29.7% for Kerala, 27% for Goa, 25% for Andhra Pradesh, 24% for Rajasthan, and 22.9% for the State of Karnataka.
