KCR slams Centre for poor allocations

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said the very term ‘devolution of Central funds to States’ was a misnomer. “It is the share of States in taxes collected by the Union government, which is a constitutional right enjoyed by all States,” he said.

Intervening during the discussion on the State budget in the Assembly on Thursday, the Chief Minister slammed BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, for claiming that the Centre had been releasing huge funds to the State. “Telangana is among the top three of the five-six States that are contributing hugely to the national economy and development. 

Telangana is a State which is building itself and also participating very actively in the nation-building process by contributing huge taxes. The State is contributing over Rs 50,000 crore to the nation, but the Union government hardly releases Rs 24,000 crore through various means,” he said.

Barring share in taxes, which was a constitutional right of every State, Chandrashekhar Rao said the Union government’s allocations to Telangana never exceeded Rs 10,000 crore in any year over the last six years towards implementation of Centrally-Sponsored Schemes (CSS). 

“The Centre



has been contributing only Rs 7,000-Rs 8,000 crore per year over the last six years for implementation of CSS. Even these funds were released only after our MPs made numerous trips to Delhi and lobbied with every Ministry,” he said.

Chandrashekhar Rao stated that never in the past had the Union government stepped back from tax devolution announced in the Union Budget, based on which States prepare their budget. But the current BJP government at the Centre failed to release tax devolutions as per schedule, he said. “For the first time, the Central devolutions are being delayed by the Reserve Bank of India and are not being released as per schedule. Thus, we are not in a position to release budget for salaries and other expenditure on the first day of the month,” he said.

He pointed out that the Centre did not release its budget commitment of about Rs 3,900 crore to the State towards pending GST dues and instead, asked the State to obtain loan of over Rs 1,400 crore to meet its needs. “The Centre introduced GST raising hopes for the States, promising them that they will be compensated for losses incurred due to implementation of GST with a benchmark of 14% for five years,” he said.