Telangana seeks Rs. 23,000 crore grant from Centre.

The Telangana government has sought a little over Rs. 23,000 crore as grants-in-aid from the Centre during the five-year period beginning April, 2015.

The state government presented a detailed memorandum containing specific proposals seeking grants among various requests to the 14th Finance Commission at a meeting recently. It may be recalled that under the ongoing 13th Finance Commission period the undivided AP was given an entitlement of Rs. 35,000 crore grants for various sectors.

The Telangana government has sought financial grants for 25 identified areas and programmes. Significant among these programmes was the water sector management and the development of water grid for which alone the government had sought Rs. 8,000 crore. Other major programmes include maintenance of forests, elementary education, maintenance of roads, segregation of agriculture feeders in the power distribution system.

'These proposals are based on the critical gaps in the availability of services in the state, the absence of alternate funding mechanism and the multiplier effects that the proposed expenditure will have on the quality and effectiveness of delivery of critical services in the state,' the state government said in the memorandum.

In a recent meeting with the 14th Finance Commission, the Andhra Pradesh government had asked for Rs. 1 lakh crore just for building its capital city.

BS