Telangana was brimming with hope in June 2014 — hope for the future. A future filled with great possibilities as it gained control over its own “neellu, nidhulu and niyamakalu” – water, finances and jobs. Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) became the Chief Minister of the newly formed Telangana State telling voters:”Once we gain control over our own revenues – revenues generated from Telangana and specifically from Hyderabad – it would be really easy to turn Telangana into Bangaru (Golden) Telangana”.
Bangaru Telangana would have a Super Specialty hospital in every district, 100- and 30-bed hospitals in every Assembly constituency and mandal respectively, making healthcare accessible and affordable to even the poorest of the poor in the state. Telangana kids would get free education from kindergarten to post-graduation (KG to PG) while enjoying the best food and nourishment at school. No one would have to live in a kuccha house — the government will build pucca double-bedroom houses for them.
Economic migrations to other states and the Gulf countries leaving behind families at home would be a thing of the past – everyone would get a job without leaving Telangana. Socially and economically disadvantaged sections would get acres of free land, farmers would get free fertilisers and traditional crafts would flourish. Bangaru Telangana is easily possible, all it needs is the selfless, committed and capable leadership of KCR. So said KCR.
Telangana believed KCR. Everyone knew Telangana was rich in resources and revenues. It had Hyderabad, a very well-developed metropolitan capital city with an international airport, a Railway Zone, a Metro and an ORR. It had well-developed Pharma, Media, Movie and Information Technology industries that were globally renowned. It had great educational institutions and universities like Osmania, HCU, JNTU, IIT, NIT, IIIT etc. It has many Central government research institutions like NIN, CCMB, apart from ICRISAT and PSUs like BHEL and Defence establishments.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accepted the Fourteenth Finance Commission’s recommendation to increase the states’ share of central revenues by almost a third – from 32% to 42% of the central government’s tax revenues. Path-breaking reforms in the form of GST increased the Telangana government’s revenues even further. People handed KCR an even bigger mandate four and a half years later, believing Bangaru Telangana needed a little bit more time.
Little did the people of Telangana suspect the rude shock that awaited them: the grave financial crisis. A weeklong lockdown necessitated by the Covid pandemic resulted in Telangana cutting salaries and pensions for its employees. Even today – a year after India’s economy came on track post-Covid, the Telangana government is unable to pay salaries to its employees on the first of the month.
Telangana’s coffers were drained empty. Official debt as mentioned in the budget books when combined with off-budget borrowings, and dues payable to public sector units like Singareni, Electricity DISCOMS etc., amount to around Rs 5 lakh crores. That’s almost one lakh twenty-five thousand rupees burden per person – including infants.
The KCR government in its thirst for revenues had promoted liquor consumption, unmindful of the consequences on public health. It earns upwards of 30,000 crores of revenue per year from liquor alone.That’s almost 60,000 per family – assuming only half of Telangana’s families have someone who consumes alcohol.
It charges the highest taxes on petrol and diesel. It has increased land valuation to increase stamp duty collection. It has raised prices on electricity and public transport (RTC) – becoming one of the highest-taxed states in the country. Â
It’s not just the employees who are suffering from this financial crisis. Students with a pathetic state of infrastructure and food in schools, the unemployed as well as government employees and pensioners are facing uncertainty over salaries. Panchayat presidents are left with unpaid bills; farmers are waiting for promised debt relief.
The sick are denied treatment expense reimbursements. Welfare scheme beneficiaries and hopefuls wait endlessly for benefits — for example, the 2BHK and Dalitha Bandhu hopefuls – are all victims. Almost every section of Telangana society is reeling under the ill effects of the KCR government’s financial mismanagement and maladministration. Unfortunately, there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel as far as the state’s ‘on the verge of default’ financial situation goes, with the TRS government at the helm of affairs.
(The author is BJP TS spokesperson)
… [Trackback]
[…] There you can find 57583 additional Information on that Topic: pynr.in/kishore-poreddy-column-ts-financial-crisis-is-there-light-at-the-end-of-tunnel/ […]
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More to that Topic: pynr.in/kishore-poreddy-column-ts-financial-crisis-is-there-light-at-the-end-of-tunnel/ […]