Telangana Budget 2019: Govt presents Rs 1.82 lakh cr Vote on Account; fiscal deficit will decline to Rs 27,748 cr

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has presented the Vote on Account of Rs 1.82 lakh crore for the fiscal 2019-20 in the Assembly on Friday. The Telangana government proposed to waive all agriculture term loans up to Rs 1 lakh outstanding as on 11 December, 2018. Rao, who has kept the finance portfolio with him, said that the total revenue receipts in the Budget estimate 2019-20 are at Rs 1.38 lakh crore as compared to the revenue expenditure Rs 1.32 lakh crore. [caption id=“attachment_5127911” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of K Chandrashekhar Rao. News18[/caption] The Budget Estimate for 2019-20 shows a revenue surplus of Rs 6,564 crore against the surplus of Rs 353 crores in the revised estimate of 2018-19. The main components of the revenue receipts comprise state’s own tax revenue of Rs 84,815 crore, non-tax revenue of Rs 9,961 crore and grants-in-aid from  the Centre is Rs 22,835 crore and share in central taxes of Rs 20,583 crore, he said. Rao said that the fiscal deficit of the state will to Rs 27,748 crore compared with the previous year’s figure of Rs 29,075 crore. The capital outlay for 2019-20 is estimated at Rs 32,815 crores which includes expenditure on schemes expenditure (Pragathi Paddu) and Centrally sponsored schemes, he said. For the farm loan waiver up to Rs 1 lakh, the chief minister said that an amount of Rs 6,000 crore is proposed in the Budget. The Budget reflected the major electoral promises made by TRS, with thrust on welfare schemes. Under the investment support scheme ‘Rythu Bandhu’, the government is currently extending support of Rs 4,000 per acre per crop season amounting to Rs 8,000 per annum. “I propose to increase this support to Rs 5,000 per acre per crop. The total support in a year will be Rs 10,000 per acre,” Rao said. To redeem another election promise, the government proposed to introduce unemployment allowance of Rs 3,016 per month to the eligible. “The details of the scheme are being worked out,” he added. The ‘Aasara’ pensions, covering the aged, widows, single women, beedi workers, people suffering from filariasis, handloom workers and toddy-tappers, are proposed to be increased from Rs 1,000 per month to Rs 2,016. “For differently-abled persons, I propose to increase their monthly pension from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,016,” the chief minister said. The government will set up as many as 119 residential schools for the backward castes in the next academic year, he said, The Times of India reported. For the implementation of various health care schemes and towards improvement of the health infrastructure, the government has allocated Rs 5,536 crore, Rao said. One each government medical college will be started in Nalgonda and Suryapet from next year, he said. — With PTI inputs