After a hefty increase in the RTC bus fares, Telangana government headed by chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has decided to increase power tariff and also property taxes in the state to mop up additional revenues for the state.
KCR told the state assembly on Friday that hike in power tariffs and property taxes in the State was necessary to provide better services to people and develop the villages and towns. He urged people to bear the hike for the development of their villages and cities.
However, he assured that people from underprivileged sections will not be burdened with the hikes.
“We need to increase taxes to provide better governance and services to the people. We do not want to keep people in the dark with regard to hike in power tariff and property taxes,” he said.
Expectedly, the Congress party fumed at KCR’s announcement. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy said it clearly showed how the KCR government had mishandled the state’s finances since beginning.
“There is a huge mismatch between the budget estimates and actual revenues. Consequently, it borrowed loans indiscriminately pushing the entire State into huge debts. Instead of taking corrective measures in view of economic slowdown, it presented an unrealistic budget of Rs. 1.82 lakh crore and now it wants to burden the common man to cover up its failures," Reddy said in a statement.
The Congress leader said that people were already hit with rising inflation and ever-increasing fuel prices.
"The economic slowdown has led to job losses and cut in income sources. Telangana is among the States with is levying high taxes and surcharges on fuel. The increase in RTC fares by 20 paisa per kilometre has already burdened the common man. Now the hike in power tariff will not only hit the commercial sector and industries, but it will also break the backbone of domestic consumers," he said.