Telangana budget session next month, likely to be stormy

The maiden budget session of the Telangana Assembly to be convened from November 5 will provide an opportunity for the K Chandrasekhar Rao Government to outline the development agenda amidst several contentious inter-State issues.

A decision to convene the Assembly was finalised during the State Cabinet meeting on Friday evening.

The session being held after a couple of postponements, is also likely to be stormy as it comes at time when the two new States of Telangana and residual Andhra Pradesh have several inter-State issues that need to be resolved. Both the States do not see eye to eye on sharing of power, water resources, and fee reimbursement for students, among various other key concerns.

The State Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had constituted 14 taskforce teams to facilitate the budget-making process, outlining the Government agenda for the next five years. These taskforce teams were entrusted with the task of drawing up short-term, medium-term and long-term perspective plans, rather than drafting a Budget for the remaining part of the year.

The interim Budget to be presented by Finance Minister Etela Rajender will be the first budget for the new State. So far, the budget allocations have been based on a vote-on-account passed by the unified Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly before the general elections and division of the State.

During the recent Finance Commission meetings, the State has indicated that tax collections have not been in line with initial projections. There is also growing concern about small and medium companies registering their offices in AP, leading to loss of tax collection.

The opposition parties, the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party, are seeking to corner the Government, particularly with regard to the severe power crisis in the State. The session is likely to be stormy with the opposition gearing up to expose the State on its handling of farm sector issues and supply of power, where industries are faced with a two-day power holiday per week and domestic and commercial consumers are faced with huge power-cuts.

Among other issues that are likely to be taken up during the Budget session include the crop loan waiver estimated to be about Rs 20,000 crore. The task forces constituted have come up with their suggestions to ensure inclusive growth and are taking feedback from the grassroots level.

While the session focus would be on the budget and its proposals, the issues of power and water sharing between the two States will be among key areas where the opposition parties would like to corner the treasury benches.