Repeated appeals of the State Government for release of assistance notwithstanding, the Central Government’s response in release of funds in the last four years has been lukewarm.
The State has, no doubt, received funds to the tune of ₹81,362 crore in the last four years, but these are releases made under the Article 270 and as per recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission which are common to all the States. Of these, the State’s share in Central taxes, pegged at ₹48,346 crore, constituted a lion’s share followed by the releases for centrally sponsored schemes that amounted to ₹23,116 crore.
Gets ₹6,328 cr. grants
Telangana received ₹6,328 crore as grants announced by the Centre to rural and local bodies in the last four years while another ₹858 crore was released as assistance from the NDRF.
The response of the Centre to State’s requests could be seen from the fact that it has released ₹1,253 crore as compensation for the Central Sales Tax that existed before the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax regime.
The release in two instalments of ₹919 crore in 2015-16 and ₹334 crore in 2016-17 was against the State’s demand of ₹11,443 crore. Finance Minister Eatala Rajender made fervent appeal to the Centre to settle the CST dues in excess of ₹11,000 crore before migration to the GST regime, but they went in vain.
With the Centre announcing that the dues under the CST are deemed to be settled consequent on the migration to GST, the State has little hopes in securing the dues on this account, sources said.
Backward districts
The State had received ₹1,350 crore at ₹450 crore each year as special assistance for backward districts under the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014 in which release of ₹450 crore for the first year 2014-15 is still pending.
The Centre which released ₹111 crore for Godavari pushkarams under the head other grants, however, did not heed to the State’s request for additional funds when it came to Krishna pushkarams that were conducted the next year.
With the request to treat Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation scheme as a national project pending the Centre’s consideration, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, during his recent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requested the Centre to allocate ₹20,000 crore for the prestigious project taken up with an estimated ₹80,000 crore.
“It has become a norm to submit representations seeking financial assistance from the Centre. But the response has not been encouraging,” was how a senior official reacted when asked about the Chief Minister’s request to the Centre.
