Telangana's GSDP more than doubles to Rs 11.55L cr in 8 yrs

New Delhi/Hyderabad: While marking the eighth anniversary of state formation on Thursday, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao alleged that the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is conspiring to weaken the state financially and discriminated against the youngest state, which completed eight years of formation.

Prior to addressing a massive gathering at Public Gardens in Hyderabad as part of Telangana Formation Day celebrations, Rao hoisted the national flag and paid tributes to countless martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the separate state movement.

Highlighting the achievements of the state government since 2014, the CM said, "Telangana's Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) more than doubled to Rs 11.55 lakh crore during the last eight years, besides showing a similar trend in per capita income, which is pegged at Rs 2.79 lakh in 2021 from 1.24 lakh in 2014."

Rao further said that Telangana is the only state in the country that is supplying 24-hour uninterrupted quality power to all the sectors and free electricity to farmers.

"In the financial year 2013-14, when Telangana State was formed, the State's GSDP was Rs 5,05,849 crore. By the financial year, 2021-2022 it went upto Rs 11,54,860 crore. The state government is ensuring that for the increase in revenue, every penny is spent in a useful manner and incurring capital expenditure in a planned manner," KCR said, adding that when the state was formed, the installed capacity of power generation was only 7,778 MWs. Owing to the efforts put in by his dispensation, it is now 17,305 MWs.

The state government had increased its solar power installed capacity from a mere 74 MWs to 4,478 MWs, a record of the sort, he noted. On agriculture, Telangana is the only state which extended a whopping Rs 50,000 crore to farmers as input financial assistance for cultivating crops.

"In 2014, water was available to irrigate 20 lakh acres in the region. However, by 2021, the state government, through various projects, created irrigated water facility to 85.89 lakh acres," he added.

Rao further said that Telangana is in the process of filling up about 91,142 government vacancies at one go, even as an additional 80,039 jobs are going to be filled with the new recruits. The CM said that his government has allotted Rs 17,700 crore in this year's budget for the Dalit Bandhu scheme which is being implemented in a phased manner across the State.

He alleged that the Centre was conspiring to weaken the states financially as if it were cutting off a crumbling branch. Elaborating further, Rao said that it was becoming a stumbling block for states like Telangana. "I demand that the Centre immediately reconsider and lift the economic sanctions imposed on the states and stop any further violation of the rights of the states."

"Telangana state is losing Rs 5,000 crore every year as it refused to implement the anti-farmer power reforms of the Centre. In five years, the state lost Rs 25,000 crore. If we want this Rs 25,000 crore, we have to install meters at the farmer's well and collect the power charges. That is not our policy. The state is not ready to accept any policy that creates a burden on the farmer. I will not accept anti-farmer power reforms as long as I am alive. People's welfare in the state is very important to me," he added.

Rao also spoke about the rising politics of hate which is taking the country back by hundreds of years and said that it will not be a surprise that the country will take another 100 years to recover from this terrible situation.