Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao has been expressing his strong disappointment with the Centre for not coming to the rescue of the states financially to help them overcome the huge revenue loss on account of lockdown because of Coronavirus epidemic.
Without going aggressive, the TRS chief gave vent to his anguish over the indifferent attitude of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in ignoring his advices on improving the liquidity flow in the country so that the states could overcome the financial problems.
“I have suggested to the Prime Minister for implementation of Helicopter Money or Quantitative Easing. There is a difference of opinion on this issue. If not helicopter money, let the Centre give us aircraft money. It should help the states in whatever manner it can, instead of ignoring the suggestions,” KCR said.
Stating that the formation of economic policy is in the hands of the Centre, the chief minister said the Prime Minister should take the states into confidence while framing the policy.
“The Centre need not follow my advice, but it must come up with a new economic policy and provide necessary support to the States. It should not be delayed any further under any circumstances,” he asserted.
He insisted that the Centre must relax the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) rules to support the States in the revival of the economy.
“The Centre has nothing to lose due to relaxation of FRBM norms and increase the borrowing limits of the states. I also requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi over telephone for deferred repayment of loans by the State government. It will not place any burden on the Centre,” he said.
The chief minister pointed out that the Centre can take certain immediate measures to ease financial pressure on the States. He urged the Centre to ask the Reserve Bank of India to issue orders to the banks not to collect interest against transactions made by the State government with regard to paddy purchases and related payments.
He stated that the State government was losing April’s monthly income of over Rs 15,000 crore including Rs 12,000 crore of its own revenue in addition to about Rs 3,000 crore through FRBM and the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS).
He emphasised the need to link MGNREGA with agriculture to improve conditions for farmers. He stated that India was self-reliant in terms of food production and no other country will be able to bail it out, unless agriculture sector was supported.