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Telangana to revise budget for FY 2020-21 amid revenue drop due to covid
Following a meeting with officials of the state’s finance ministry on Friday, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has instructed officials to take up an interim review of the state’s budget, an official release from the CM’s office stated.
The Telangana government has decided to revise its annual budget for the financial year 2020-2021 amid a shortfall in revenues due to the Covid-19 pandemic, officials familiar with the matter said.
Following a meeting with officials of the state’s finance ministry on Friday, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has instructed officials to take up an interim review of the state’s budget, an official release from the CM’s office stated.
“The state’s revenue and income have been reduced severely due to the lockdown imposed due to Corona pandemic. There was cut in the funds from the Centre to the State. The Central GDP has fallen to (Minus) -24 percent. This had a major impact on the states,” the statement cited the chief minister as saying.
Under these circumstances, KCR said, the state had to prepare estimates on how much funds are actually available and how much funds can be allocated to the departments. “Review the entire state budget and submit a report to the government,” the CM told officials.
On March 8, state finance minister T Harish Rao had presented the state’s annual budget with an outlay of Rs 1,82,914 crore, with a revenue surplus of Rs 4,482 crore. The budget projected a revenue expenditure of Rs 1,38,669 crore and capital expenditure of Rs 22,061 crore.
The chief minister has also proposed to make changes in the existing method of announcing dearness allowance (DA) to the state government employees and pensioners, officials who attended Friday’s meeting said on condition of anonymity.
As on date, DA is being paid to state government employees in accordance with the decision taken by the Centre.
The CM said hereafter, the state would announce the DA once in six months without waiting for the decision of the Centre. “Changes could be made in the instalments at later stage, depending on the Central formula,” he said.
