Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy appealed to the 16th Finance Commission to facilitate a provision of either restructuring debts or extending additional assistance.
Participating at the 16th Finance Commission meeting presided by its Chairman Dr. Arvind Panagariya, at Praja Bhavan, he said that Telangana was the youngest State of India. “We now call – The Future State,” and was an economically growing, rapidly transforming State, which contributed a lot to the nation.
Though Telangana plays a vital role in our country’s development, he deplored that despite having strong foundations and a sound economy Telangana is facing many challenges financially.
“Heavy debt burden has become a challenge for Telangana. By the end of the last financial year, the debt burden reached Rs. 6.85 lakh crores. There are off-budget loans. In the past ten years, the government has taken huge loans to fund the infrastructure projects, and now the state has to spend a large part of its revenue to repay the debt,” he said.
“If we don’t manage our loans and interest payment it will slow down our progress. We seek your support in helping us address this problem,” The Chief Minister said, stressing “We look forward to your support in strengthening fiscal federalism.”
Moreover, Revanth Reddy asked want to increase the share of funds devolution to the states from 41% to 50% in central taxes. He said that he is making this demand on behalf of all the states. “If this demand is fulfilled, then we will fully cooperate in achieving the goal chosen by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to transform the country into a 5 trillion dollar economy”, he added.
He asserted that Telangana will be made into a trillion dollar economy. He asked the Finance Commission to provide adequate assistance to Telangana. “We will shoulder our responsibility in making the country the third largest economy in the world”, he assured. He wants to support strengthening fiscal federalism. He expressed hope that the recommendations of the Finance Commission will be useful to overcome the challenges faced by Telangana.
