The economic slowdown in the country had its impact on the Telangana Budget outlay for the financial year 2019-20.
The proposed expenditure for 2019-20 declined to ₹1,46,492.30 crore from ₹1,82,017 crore shown in the Vote On Account Budget presented before the Lok Sabha election this year.
Of the ₹1,46,492.30 crore, revenue expenditure is ₹1,11,055.84 crore and the capital expenditure is ₹17,274.67 crore.
More funds for agriculture
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who presented the Budget in the Legislative Assembly on Monday, reiterated his government’s commitment to allocate more funds for agriculture and welfare sectors to better the lives of farmers and general public.
In his 50-minute budget presentation, he did not hesitate to place the facts and actual situation before the people and said, “It is a harsh reality that due to economic slowdown, the revenues of both the Centre and the State have come down. The economic slowdown led to some setbacks”.
The budget is formulated based on the facts and realities as they exist today with a revenue surplus of ₹2,044.88 crore while the fiscal deficit is ₹24,081.74 crore, he stated.
Striking an optimistic note, Mr. Rao, however, said though there was fall in revenues due to economic slowdown, he was hopeful and optimistic that the situation would change for the better. If the situation improved in future, there would be scope for making suitable changes in the estimates later.
He said that policy decisions were taken for proper fiscal management. In a decision that would bring relief to those waiting for pending bills, the government decided to clear all the dues of all the departments and adequate allocations were made in the budget.
The Chief Minister also made it clear that new works were proposed to be taken up only after the pending bills were cleared and, accordingly, the Finance Department advised the Ministers and Secretaries concerned to spend funds based on this policy.
Sale of lands to raise more funds
The government could raise additional funds through sale of government lands that were freed from the land-grabbers due to the legal fight by the government. Several cases pending in the courts were also cleared and the government could get back its rightful ownership of land worth thousands of crores of rupees.
The lands would be sold in a phased manner and the funds would be transferred to the Special Development Fund and to use them to meet any contingency arising in any department for meeting the needs of the people.
