Blaming the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government in Telangana for placing a huge debt burden on Telangana during its nine years of governance, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy said that the cost of repaying these loans in the past one year has been higher than the fresh loans raised by his government. Amid the celebration of the one-year anniversary of the Congress government coming to power, CM Revanth told The Hindu that the debt burden has become a challenge in implementation of welfare schemes and other poll promises.
CM Revanth said that while his government raised loans of Rs 52,118 crore in the past year, it also has to repay Rs 64,516 crore as interest and principal on loans raised by BRS from 2014 to 2023. Speaking during the ‘Praja Palana Vijayotsavalu’ celebrations marking the first of his government, Revanth Reddy has said that ehe BRS government had incurred a debt of nearly Rs 7 lakh crore during this period.
The Chief Minister shared that Telangana’s average revenue in a month is about Rs 18,500 crore, of which Rs 6,500 goes towards salaries, and Rs 6,500 crore towards loan repayments, leaving only Rs 5,500 crore towards other expenses including welfare and development.
“Congress granted statehood to Telangana with Rs 16,000 crore surplus budget and a Rs 69,000 crore debt. But the total debt burden on Telangana was Rs 7 lakh crore when Congress assumed power. Government has been paying Rs 6500 crore interest on this debt every month. Despite this, the Congress government has been implementing the poll guarantees ,” Revanth said, addressing a press conference on Sunday, December 1.
On Monday, he said that his government had released Rs 835 crore from Chief Minister's Relief Fund in the past one year. He also said that 1.15 crore women have used the free bus travel scheme so far, and 200 units of free power have been provided to 50 lakh poor families. He also said that his government has waived farm loans worth Rs 21,000 crore in the past year, benefiting around 25 lakh farmers. Revanth has also said that his is the only government to have spent Rs 54,280 crore on farmers’ welfare in a single year.
CM Revanth said that in the past year, his government has spent Rs 61,194 crore on implementing poll promises, including Rajiv Arogya Sri, free bus travel for women, subsidised LPG, free household electricity up to 200 units, etc., The Hindu reported.