HARISH RAO PRESENTS TS WISHLIST TO NIRMALA

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday held a video conference with state finance minister T. Harish Rao and reviewed the Central assistance and requirement of funds in the upcoming Budget. Harish Rao urged the Centre to extend the special borrowing scheme, under which states are permitted to avail two per cent additional borrowings of the total GSDP (gross state domestic product), in 20212022.

The facility had helped the state get funds for public expenditure, he said and explained the state’s struggle to meet the financial requirements post the Coronavirus lockdown.

The delay in the release of Central grants under the backward region development scheme also figured in the meeting. Harish Rao asked the Union minister to release the pending `900 crore to the state, and continue the scheme for five years. The other demands were extension of 50 per cent subsidy on the loans taken by women self-help groups to all districts, and enhancement of pension to the physically challenged, the aged and widows to

`1,000 from `200 in the new financial year.

The wishlist includes immediate release of

`723 crore grants under

15th Finance Commission and extending the free vaccination programme to everyone in Telangana state as had been promised in Bihar.

The finance minister brought to the notice of Nirmala Sitharaman that states were losing its share of funds due to imposition of cess and surcharge and demanded that they be scrapped and Central grants increased.