Telangana facing financial constraints, says Revanth Reddy

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said the State government was facing severe financial constraints and asked government employees to focus on improving tax collection.

Addressing a meeting of the Madiga Employees Coordination Committee on Friday, he said employees must ensure strict tax collection and act against evaders to strengthen the State’s finances.

“If taxes are collected efficiently and evasion is checked, the revenue can be used for the welfare of the poor,” he said. The Chief Minister said the government was also struggling to meet retirement benefit obligations. On average, around 1,000 employees retire every month.

He said the government has to pay nearly Rs 1 crore in retirement benefits to each employee, which amounts to about Rs 1,000 crore every month. Referring to land reforms, he said vast tracts of land were once owned by zamindars and jagirdars. Former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao later introduced the Agricultural Ceiling Act.

Around 25 lakh acres of assigned land were distributed to the



poor through pattas. However, the pattas were later misused in several cases, and the government was working to address the issue. “The government does not have sufficient land to distribute to the poor. I have said this earlier at Osmania University and at other meetings,” he said, adding that the government’s financial flexibility was limited.

The Chief Minister said the Congress government had implemented several welfare measures after coming to power. These include the issuance of ration cards, supply of fine rice, sanction of Indiramma houses, free bus travel for women, 200 units of free electricity, crop loan waiver and the Rythu Bharosa scheme.

However, he said he was not certain whether all eligible beneficiaries had received the benefits. He urged government employees to work harder to ensure that every eligible poor family receives a ration card. He said ration cards were essential for availing benefits such as fine rice, Indiramma housing and free electricity. Members of the Madiga community were also waiting for ration cards, he added.