TS Budget is completely unrealistic: TDP

TDP MLA R. Krishanaiah has described the Telangana's budget for 2017-18 as completely unrealistic.

Participating in the discussion on State's budget for 2017-18 in Assembly on Thursday, the TDP legislator said that Telangana's overall revenues were about Rs. 80,000-90,000 Crore. However, the State Government presented a budget of Rs. 1.49 lakh crore which is very far from reality. He alleged that the government was not taking loans to create assets and the same was being spent on non-priority sectors. He said instead of spending funds on providing education and jobs to all citizens, the government wants to spend about Rs. 40,000 Crore to provide tapped water to all households.

Krishanaiah accused the government of neglecting the welfare of Backward Classes in the budget. He said that the State Government has constituted Most Backward Classes (MBC) Corporation and allocated Rs. 1,000 crore for the same. However, the government did not identify the beneficiaries under MBCs. He said it would take at least one year for the government to list MBC castes.

The TDP leader said that the government has increased the salaries of regular, contract and outsourcing employees and it also enhance pay scales of elected representatives including MLAs. But the State Government did not increase the scholarships and Mess Charges for the students.

Krishnaiah said that the government has been boasting of starting several residential schools. But it has failed to take steps government schools and did not take up recruitment of teachers. He asked as to how the government could strengthen government educational institutions without filling up the posts of teachers and lecturers.