Hyderabad: The Communist Party of India (CPI) has in principle expressed its opposition to the state government’s plans to sell away government lands to gain revenues, including the auction of 400 acres of land in Gachibowli, strongly opposed by members of the civil society.
Speaking on the state budget 2025-26 in the Telangana Assembly on Friday, March 21, CPI Kothagudem MLA Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao said that the state government’s budget estimates showed that it was going to mobilise Rs 10,000 crore by selling away government properties, and was also going to gain revenues of Rs 10,000 crore from other unexplained sources.
Suggesting an alternative to generate revenue, he pointed out that around 30,000 to 40,000 huts had been erected by the poor in several areas, including Abdullapurmet, Kuntlur, Warangal, Hanamkonda, Rajendranagar, Chevella, Medchal, Medipalli, and many other locations over the past couple of years.
“The state government is planning to build houses for the poor. However, if the government decides to issue pattas to them, they will construct their own houses. Some revenue can be generated through registrations,” he suggested.
He proposed implementing GO 58 to regularise land for the poor free of cost and GO 59 to regularise other lands by charging beneficiaries, which would help the government raise revenue. He also urged the state government to launch an inquiry into the extent of land held by the land mafia and to take steps to reclaim 6,000 acres of illegally encroached Waqf Board lands, lake lands, and endowment lands.
Raising concerns over the state’s debt crisis, he noted that FRBM loans and off-budget borrowings had already reached their limits. In addition to outstanding dues of Rs 60,000 crore, the state’s total debt currently stands at Rs 8.6 lakh crore.
“Despite such massive debt accumulated over the past 10 years, the financial situation of the poor has not improved. We don’t know what has been achieved by spending so much. The burden of this debt has been placed on the unborn generations,” he remarked.
He added that even if former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh were tasked with resolving the crisis, he would struggle to do so.
“We are facing a situation similar to when Chandra Shekhar was Prime Minister. The government at that time had to mortgage gold to keep the country running. That was when Manmohan Singh and PV Narasimha Rao introduced reforms to stabilise the economy. Of course, the communist parties and workers opposed those reforms,” he recalled.
‘IAS officers must be in charge of education, hospitals’
To improve the quality of education, he suggested appointing IAS officers to oversee the education department in each district to ensure a results-driven approach.
He also recommended rationalising Gurukuls, as there is a disparity in the number of students and the size of school buildings, with some low-occupancy schools having excess space while high-occupancy schools face a shortage.
Additionally, he proposed appointing IAS officers to manage government hospitals such as Gandhi Hospital, NIMS, and Osmania General Hospital.
Errors affecting the loan waiver implementation
Sambasiva Rao highlighted issues in Nidigonda village, Raghunathapalle mandal, Jangaon district, where crop loans of 552 out of 554 farmers could not be waived due to Aadhaar card details being incorrectly linked to other farmers’ loan accounts. This created a chain of errors affecting multiple farmers.
He urged the state government to introduce market intervention for crops by establishing a Rs 5,000 crore corpus fund to compensate farmers when market prices fall.
He also called for the formation of a commission to determine support prices and emphasised the need for a comprehensive crop insurance policy.
Telangana government likely to host state iftar on March 24
Need for a people-centric budget
Sambasiva Rao stated that the state budget needed to cater to two crore people and emphasised the necessity of a people-centric approach.
He highlighted that 4,68,000 contract workers in government departments, workers registered under e-Shram, 15 lakh construction workers, and 1.2 crore unorganised sector workers should be included as beneficiaries of the budget. 1.2 crore workers in unorganised sectors, needed to be made beneficiaries of the budget.
