The budget session of the Telangana Assembly concluded on Thursday evening with a frank confession by the State government that its total expenditure, both plan and non-plan, so far in 2014-15 was Rs. 65,000 crore, against the budgeted expenditure of Rs. 1,00,637 crore.
The budget this year was only for a ten-month period since the formation of Telangana on June 2, Finance Minister Etala Rajender reminded the House while winding up the debate on the Appropriation Bill amid a walkout by the Congress. He also said there would be no revised estimates of expenditure but the government would come up with actuals after June.
The Finance Minister made another candid observation in his over hour-long speech that the government did not wish to present a misleading picture in the budget presentation for 2015-16 as it deliberately cut down total estimates by 4.2 per cent after learning from the Union budget that the State would not get the expected hike in borrowing limit by Rs. 4,000 crore under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. After the Union budget was presented on February 28 and it was clear that the Centre was being conservative in the devolution of funds, the State government did not attempt a big budget.
Mr. Rajender also said the coffers of the State government were in a tight position as it did not get Rs. 5,000 crore Central assistance as a new-born State, compensation due to phase out of Central Sales Tax, tax devolution of Rs. 12,833 crore and an income of Rs. 13,500 from the sale and regularisation of lands. He appealed to the Opposition to view the budget in a positive manner and promised to widen its scope once the calculations of the government were in order.
Leading the walkout in spite of Mr. Rajender calling for passage of the Bill unanimously, Congress member N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said the protest by the party was against the absence of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in the House when such an important legislation was passed.
