HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s plan to stay in Delhi during the monsoon Parliament session to push for the resolution of pending matters of the State seems to be paying off. However, the main concern — borrowing limit under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act — is still lingering. “The final figure for FRBM loans to Telangana is not clear yet,” a senior official told Express requesting anonymity.
Meanwhile, KCR on Thursday conducted another review meeting with the TRS MPs in Delhi on the third consecutive day. According to party sources, Rao’s main focus was to ensure a healthy FRBM limit. The State government officials were in touch with the Ministry of Finance over FRBM loans.
“Officials in the Telangana Ministry of Finance are seeking clarifications and our officials are answering all their queries. The State government has requested the Ministry of Finance to implement their conditions on FRBM loans with prospective effect and not with retrospective effect,” State Planning Board Vice-Chairman B Vinod Kumar said.
The State government has proposed to raise Rs 53,000-crore loan in the current financial year. However, Finance Minister T Harish Rao recently said that the Centre had cut the market borrowing limit by Rs 19,000 crore. “However, there is still no clarity on the FRBM limit. Without clarity on the quantum of FRBM loans, the planning for the year would go haywire,” officials said.
Meanwhile, the CM also reviewed the pending loans of Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC). The State received 80 per cent of the proposed loan from these institutions. Only 20 per cent of the sanctioned amount is pending. At this point, the PFC and the REC wanted the State to take a counter-guarantee from the RBI.
“The delay in sanctioning the agreed loan amount is serious concern. The irrigation projects are at various stages. Any delay in releasing the loans will hamper the works of the projects,” Special Chief Secretary (irrigation) Rajat Kumar told Express. He said the Chief Minister would take a final call on how to go about the non-release of 20 per cent of the agreed loan by PFC and REC.