Hyderabad, July 25 (NSS): Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka on Thursday presented Telangana government’s full-scale budget with an outlay of Rs 2,91,159 crore for the financial year of 2024-25.
The revenue expenditure was proposed at Rs.2,20,945 crores and the capital expenditure proposed was Rs.33,487 crores for the year 2024-25 for approval of the Assembly.
Compared to the the ‘Vote on Account’ budget of Rs 2.76 lakh crore presented by the State government in February earlier this year, this current budget is more than Rs.15,000 crores.
In his budget speech, Bhatti Vikramarka, who also holds the finance portfolio, said that the debts which were at Rs.75,577 crores at the time of Telangana formation grew by leaps and bounds in 10 years and reached a humungous figure of Rs.6,71,751 crores.
“We have focused our immediate attention on the repayment of the loans. Since the formation of Congress government, we have raised loans of Rs.35,118 crores, whereas we have repaid loans of Rs.42,892 crores. In effect, we have repaid a higher amount of Rs.7,774 crores than the loans we have raised and demonstrated our sincerity to the people,” Bhatti Vikramarka disclosed.
In the budget allocations, the State government gave highest priority to the agriculture and allied sectors with an allocation of Rs 72,659 crore, followed by Rs 29,816 crore for Panchayath Raj and Rural Development, and Rs 22,301 crore for Irrigation. Around Rs 21,292 crore have been set aside for Education, followed by Rs.19,080 crore for Animal Husbandry, Rs.11,468 crores for Medical Health,
Rs.10,000 crores for Hyderabad development and Rs.500 crore for Old City Metro project.
However, there are no major allocations for the implementation of six guarantees promised by the Congress party during the Assembly elections to the people, except for Rs 2,418 crore for Gruha Jyothi Scheme and Rs 723 crore for the subsidised LPG cylinder scheme.
