Hyderabad, March 3 (IANS) Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy has demanded that the Congress government in Telangana release a white paper on the state’s financial position.

The Central minister, on Tuesday, wrote a letter to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy requesting him to release a comprehensive white paper before the state budget session starts on March 16.

In his letter, the BJP leader gave details of the funds and other support received by the state from the Centre during the last 12 years.

Kishan Reddy said that when Telangana was formed in 2014, it had a surplus budget. He alleged that the present financial position of the state is due to the mess created during the last 10 years of BRS rule and the last 27 months of Congress rule.

He wrote that the state’s per capita debt, which is rapidly growing every year, also indicates the state’s poor financial situation. In such circumstances, the state government needs to put the facts regarding the state’s financial situation before the people of Telangana, he said.

The Union Minister recalled that during the 2023 Assembly elections, the Congress party had given 420 promises to the people of Telangana, including six major guarantees through its manifesto. He said the people who believed in these promises gave power to the Congress party, but after taking over as the Chief Minister, he tried to escape with the remark that the state coffers have empty earthen pots instead of money.

“While you spoke about the state treasury in this manner, recently at a meeting, you said that if necessary, you are ready to give Rs 1,000 crore to the Sonia Gandhi-Rahul Gandhi family and the Congress party. Looking at the way you talk, it is clear that the state treasury is nil — the pockets of Congress leaders are full.”

He claimed that since the NDA government came to power at the Centre under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, it has been providing support and cooperation in many ways for the development of Telangana state. During the last 12 years, in the form of various Central government schemes, capital investments, etc., around Rs 12 lakh crore have been allocated by the Centre for the development of Telangana state and the welfare of the people, he said.

According to Kishan Reddy, these funds include Rs 2.5 lakh crore share in taxes, construction of roads worth Rs 1.85 lakh crore, more than Rs 36,000 crore railway budget allocation, another Rs 50,000 crore railway works, about Rs 40,000 crore employment guarantee fund, Rs 50,000 crore free ration rice distribution, more than Rs 40,000 crore funds to rural and urban local bodies under recommendations of financial commissions, over Rs 12,000 crore worth of power projects, over Rs 14,000 crore PM Kisan funds, Rs 80,000 crore for fertilizer subsidy, more than Rs 21,000 crore of funds for education and sports and nearly Rs 9,000 crore of health care funds, etc.

Besides, the Central government has collected paddy from Telangana farmers by paying a minimum support price of around Rs 2 lakh crore in the last 12 years. Another Rs 60,000 crore minimum support price was paid to procure cotton from Telangana farmers. The Central government not only provided a large amount of funds for the development of Telangana, but also provided Rs 10 lakh crore loans through various financial institutions.

In addition to these, the Central government launched a new scheme called ‘Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI)’ in the financial year 2020-21 to provide additional support to the development of the states by providing interest-free loans with a term of 50 years to the states for capital investment funds required for building better infrastructure in the states, wrote Kishan Reddy.

Under the SASCI scheme from 2020-21 to 2025-26, Telangana was given more than Rs 10,000 crore interest-free loans. With these loans, hundreds of capital investment projects have been implemented across the state.

“Even though Telangana, like all the states, is taking advantage of this scheme, we see the state government relying on interest-free loans provided by the Central government even for the ambitious programmes taken up by the state government. This shows that the state government’s financial situation is in dire straits,” he said.

“Not only this, the state government is taking loans to pay interest on loans taken in the past. It is also taking loans to pay salaries to employees, for the Rythu Bharosa scheme and for the implementation of various welfare schemes. Today we have a situation in Telangana where the state government can’t do even a single work without loans,” he added.

–IANS

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