Interim Budget: Govt to borrow to pay interest on loans taken by BRS, says Bhatti Vikramarka

HYDERABAD: Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka while supporting the Government’s decision to borrow Rs 60,625 (gross borrowing) during the current fiscal as mentioned in the interim budget has said that the Government has no other way than to borrow under the FRBM limits to repay the loans taken by the previous BRS Government.

Speaking on the budget on Thursday the Minister said that the quantum of debt burden on the State was Rs 7.11 lakh crore and the State must go ahead and borrow more to repay the loans taken by the earlier Government while financing the six guarantees.

“ The BRS, however, did not provide for Rs 2,62,518 crore during the nine years in different budgets and spent only 82.4 percent of the approved budgets and the result was a mismatch between allocation and expenditure,” he said.

The Finance Minister said that the Congress Government was aware that the BRS had an ambitious budget of Rs 3 lakh crore during the last fiscal and failed to spend as promised. "We have limited our budget to Rs 2,75,89 crore which was moderate and attainable," he added.

Allocations for six guarantees

The Finance Minister said that Rs 53,196 crore had been allocated for the implementation of the six guarantees.

Rytu Bharosa: Rs 15,075 crore

Indiramma Houses: 7,740 crore

3,500 houses per Assembly Constituency

200 units Gruha Jyothi: Rs 2,418 crore

Rs 500 gas cylinder: Rs 723 crore

Social welfare: Rs 5,815 crore

Tribal welfare: Rs 2,800 crore

Panchayat Raj: Rs 40,000 crore

He said that the Government released Rs 50 crore for the TSPSC and granted 64 additional Group-1 posts. He said that 13,444 posts in the police department were filled in to fulfill the aspirations of the young men and women in the State.