The new Chief Minister of Telangana, A Revanth Reddy, is planning to offer free travel for women on Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) buses. This is one of the six guarantees that he will sign. The TSRTC currently earns about Rs 2,500 crore annually from women passengers. If the scheme is implemented, the government will need to provide the same amount of money to the corporation, which is already facing losses of Rs 6,000 crore.
Under the leadership of the current managing director VC Sajjanar, the RTC has started making operational profits after struggling with debt. The Congress party has also promised to waive up to Rs two lakh in farm loans. The previous government had budgeted Rs 21,000 lakh crore for waiving up to Rs one lakh in farm loans. In order to fulfill this promise, the Congress government will need to allocate at least 35,000 lakh crore over the next five years. The previous regime had identified 42 lakh farmers as beneficiaries for the crop loan waiver.
Additionally, the Congress party has pledged to provide Rs 15,000 to farmers and Rs 12,000 to farm workers per acre annually under the Rythu Bharosa guarantee scheme. The previous government’s Rythu Bandhu scheme provided farmers with Rs 10,000 annually. In the past five and a half years, the BRS government has spent Rs 72,000 crore on Rythu Bandhu, benefiting 70 lakh farmers. However, the latest installment could not be released due to the poll code. To implement its scheme under similar parameters, the Congress party will require nearly Rs one lakh crore over the next five years.
