Hyderabad: Telangana deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka urged the Centre to declare the Palamuru Ranga Reddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) as a national project in the upcoming Union Budget, and also allocate funds to the state for taking up projects such as Metro Rail phase-2, the Regional Ring Road (RRR), and other infra projects.Participating in a pre-budget meeting of all state finance ministers for 2026-27, chaired by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on Saturday, Vikramarka urged the Centre to sanction the Hyderabad Metro Rail phase-2, which is pending with the ministry of urban development. He also asked for sanctioning of RRR, and said both chief minister A Revanth Reddy and he had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union minister Nitin Gadkari, and Sitharaman. He asked the Centre to sanction a semiconductor project under the Semiconductor Mission as Telangana has all the required ecosystem, and Electronics Manufacturing Cluster 2.0 for the state. Land for this has already been identified near Thatiparthy village in Ranga Reddy district, he added.
On fiscal transfersHe said that while examining the 15th Finance Commission report, the Centre departed from the established tradition of treating the fiscal transfers recommended by the commission as an award. “For the first time, the Centre broke this tradition by not accepting the state-specific and sector-specific grants recommended by the Finance Commission. As a result, Telangana lost 2,362 crore in the form of state-specific grants and 3,024 crore in the form of sector-specific grants,” he said.He appealed to Sitharaman to accept all the recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission relating to fiscal transfers to the state as these come as a package, he said. He said cesses and surcharges levied by the Centre in the gross tax revenue of the GoI reached 20%. As a result, though the recommended share of tax devolution to states by the 15th Finance Commission is 41%, the states are only getting 30% of the gross tax revenue of the Centre.“The total surcharges, amounting to 1,55,000 crore (2025-26 budget estimates), should be credited to a non-lapsable infrastructure fund, from which states can be given grants for infrastructure development. Alternatively, the entire amount of surcharges should be merged with basic rates to enhance the divisible pool of Central taxes,” he said.Rural job employment schemeOn VB G Ram G, the deputy CM said MGNREGA was replaced with the new scheme without any consultation with states. “MGNREGA was a demand-based programme, and providing work was a guarantee given by the state. In the new Act, the scheme was changed from 90:10 to 60:40, thus imposing a further burden on the already strained resources of states,” he said.
