TRS Government in Telangana on Thursday presented its last Budget of its five year term with an outlay of Rs 1.74 lakh crore (Rs 1.74 trillion) allocating a whopping Rs 25,000 crore to the irrigation sector. The 2018-19 Budget was 16.57 percent bigger than the previous budget. This include Rs 12454 crore revenue expenditure and Rs 33,869 crore capital expenditure.
Presenting the tax free and revenue surplus Budget the State Finance Minister E Rajender said that the economic growth rate of Telangana during 2016-17 was 10.1 per cent compared to 6.8 per cent during 2014-15 and national GDP of 6.6 per cent. The capital expenditure proposed was 19 per cent of the total expenditure which was substantially higher compared to the other states, he said. The focus of the budget was on rural economy, specially the agriculture sector as well as the welfare of various sections of the society.
The State was building 23 major and 13 medium irrigation projects on rivers Krishna and Godavari with an aim of providing irrigation facilities to one crore acres, the finance minister said. The Budget has proposed allocation of Rs 5920 crore for the backward classes welfare, Rs 8063 crore for the scheduled tribes and Rs 16453 crore for the Scheduled castes welfare.
The minority welfare Budget was also increased to Rs 2500 crore from Rs 1200 in this year’s Budget. Commenting on the budget the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao expressed his happiness over greater allocation for the agriculture sector on which a great majority of people were dependent.
On the Opposition’s allegation that the TRS Government had taken the state into a debt trap during last four years, the Chief Minister said that it was still in permissible limits.
The debt of the state which was Rs 72000 crore at the time of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh now stands at Rs 1.42 lakh crore, excluding the loan raised by various corporations of the State.