Revanth Reddy regime loud on vows, hushed on action; budget exposes Congress shallowness

HYDERABAD: The “will-do” approach of the Congress Government in Telangana is slowly turning out to ignite and simmer discontent among people.

Though Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy promised that he would deliver the six guarantees in 100 days of coming to power, there seems to be no semblance of any exercise to implement them. Already, 64 days are done and another 36 days are left over for the 100-day deadline.

The Congress Government on Saturday announced in its vote-on-account budget that it had allocated Rs. 53,196 crore for the implementation of the six guarantees in 2024-25.

While commencing the election campaign on September 17, the Congress made lofty statements by hiding the essential fine print on the eligibility criteria of beneficiaries.

As the government is slowly settling down in the saddle it is understanding the nuances of governance.

The government has amassed a lot of resentment that is brewing among people that hasn’t erupted yet.

However, women were forthcoming to talk about the lack of Rs.2,000 pensions that were coming to them hassle free until KCR Government was in place. However, ever since the Congress took over the reins of the State, it stopped the Rs.2,000 Aasara pensions in view of the proposed implementation of Rs.4,000 pensions.

Former Finance Minister T Harish Rao pointed out that the Government would require Rs.8,000 crore to implement the pensions as promised, while the allocation made in Bhatti Vikaramarka’s budget was just Rs.2,400 crore.

In fact, the Aasara pension scheme which was disrupted did not get sufficient allocation.

The government failed to pay the instalment due to be paid towards Rythu Bandhu and the sowing season is over. The farmers missed the assistance in the crop season, while not even half the farmers did not get any assistance at all.

The Rythu Bharosa scheme would come into force only later and the Congress Government is still to complete the release of the amounts under Rythu Bandhu.

Though it had not made the guidelines for Rythu Bharosa scheme eligibilities, it announced that even tenant farmers and farm labourers too would get Rs.15,000 an acre and Rs.12,000 an acre respectively. The required amount for Rythu Bharosa is Rs 20,500 crore. The Rs 2 lakh farm loan waiver would require Rs. 40,000 crore, the bonus for paddy needs Rs. 15,000 cr and the Rythu Bima would need are 2,000 crore. In all, farm sector reliefs under the six guarantees alone need Rs 77,500 crore. As against this whopping amount, the Revanth Reddy regime allotted Rs 19,746 crore for farmers.

The government linked the benefits under its guarantees to white ration card. This was the fine print.

However, it gave an impression that it would extend the schemes to all. The Rs.2,500 for every woman too was expected by all sections.

Under the Gruha Jyothy scheme, the government promised free power upto 200 units to every household. However, now it’s capping it to limit its expenditure saying those who used 200 units on an average per month in a year with white ration cards only were eligible. The scheme requires Rs. 8,000 crores.

What will happen to the already built double bed room houses? Would they be left unallotted? Indira’s housing scheme as announced would need Rs.23,000 crore while the allocation made was a mere Rs.7,000 crore.

In fact, Harish Rao deftly dissected the budget exposing the government’s policy of being loud on promises and silent on implementation.