The budget presented by the Andhra Pradesh government for the year 2014-15 has been termed impractical and imbalanced by the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, C. Ramachandraiah.
With an estimated revenue deficit of Rs. 6,064 crore and fiscal deficit of Rs.12,064 crore provided the Centre would give promised additional assistance of Rs. 14,500 crore , he wondered how the Telugu Desam government proposed to implement its ‘wish list’ if the Centre did not release the promised amount.
Given its ambitious plan of giving equal priority to welfare and development, the budget remained silent on mobilisation of resources. The government has only two alternatives – to either tax the people or curtail the expenditure, he said.
Mr. Ramachandraiah was critical about the claim of the Telugu Desam government in the budget speech that it had left the united State on a sound economic footing by implementing second generation economic reforms and significant development of the IT sector.
The TD government also blamed the successor Congress government’s 10-year misrule marked by lack of strategic direction and rampant corruption. The situation turned only worse by the manner in which the State was bifurcated leaving the successor State of Andhra Pradesh with skewed distribution of revenue and critical infrastructure in the social and economic sectors.
Reminding the TD government that the socio economic survey had clearly debunked the tall claims of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Mr. Ramachandraiah said it was the Congress government which ensured the blueprint for development of residual AP became part of the AP State Reorganisation Act.
Be it the Polavaram project with a national project status, special category status for five years, setting up institutions of excellence or compensating the State for revenue loss. “All Mr.Naidu needs to do is to implement that blueprint effectively,” he added.
