‘Will not seek votes without building 2 lakh 2BHK houses’

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday said the ruling party would not seek votes in the next election if failed to complete two lakh 2BHK houses by the end of 2017-18. Intervening during Finance Minister E. Rajender's reply to general discussion on budget in the Assembly, he stated that work on 30,000 double-bedroom houses was already in progress and the govt. was committed to completing one lakh houses in the city and another one lakh in rural areas. “Our houses will be equivalent to 14 lakh houses built by the previous Congress govt.,” he said, adding that they would not advance polls as being propagated by TPCC chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy but face elections only when they were due as per the schedule.

No freebies

Responding to G. Kishan Reddy's (BJP) comments as to what revenue models the State Government was planning to follow for repaying the money being borrowed for schemes such as Mission Bhagiratha and double-bedroom houses, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said every government scheme would not have a revenue model.

“The government will pay back the money being borrowed for Mission Bhagiratha. Some component of it would also be met from charges to be collected by urban local bodies and industries who will be supplied water from the project and people will also won't mind paying some charges”, the Chief Minister said, adding that there would not be anything that would be coming free in the future. Even the farming community had expressed willingness to pay for quality power supply during the 2014 power crisis.

He brushed aside the view of the Opposition parties over the increasing debt burden on the State stating that those who had no proper understanding of progress would only talk against borrowing money for development. Mobilising resources through different means including borrowing funds within statutory limits from various sources for implementing development and welfare programmes and repaying the loans was a dynamic activity for any government.

Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao reminded the members that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said during a NITI Aayog meeting that ample resources were needed for achieving desired development goals. “A committee has been set up by the Centre to look into whether the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act in its present form is good for our economy or shackles in the legs”, he noted.

He also clarified that the scheme for sheep-rearers would not have even a small share of funding from the Centre as the State Government would bear the entire cost on its own.