Telangana BJP questions inflated estimates for Metro Phase-II
alleged that the Congress govt, which has been blaming the Centre for not providing adequate financial support to Telangana, has failed to utilise funds allocated under centrally sponsored schemes (CCS) and has not implemented necessary reforms to secure additional funding.
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The party further stated that the
Phase-II was not cleared due to its high cost estimates compared to similar Metro projects in other cities.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, the party's state official spokesperson, Sarangula Amarnath, said that the state govt is plagued by inefficiency and poor financial mismanagement. "The CAG report released on Friday clearly indicates that the state had already borrowed 37% of this year's budgeted estimates.
Chief minister A Revanth Reddy is totally oblivious of the public finance system that governs various CCS and grants," he said.
"Despite generous allocations under the Finance Commission devolution, CSS and one-off grants, large sums remain unutilised in single nodal agency (SNA) bank accounts. These funds often lapse due to the state's failure to provide matching shares or are withheld because mandatory conditions are not met.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25 (till Feb 2, 2025), the Centre released ₹78,859.87 crore to Telangana under various Central sponsored schemes.
Yet the state reported significant unspent balances in SNA accounts," Amarnath said.
Citing examples, he pointed out that ₹1,812 crore remained idle in SNA accounts at the end of last financial year, according to CAG findings. "Telangana is suffering significant losses in Central funding due to its failure to implement key reforms mandated by the Union govt, with the state forgoing an estimated ₹25,000 crore over five years and risking additional losses of ₹5,000 crore annually due to incomplete reform compliance in sectors such as the power sector, holding local bodies elections, matching share, not providing utilisation certificates and FRMB violations," the spokesperson said.
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On Metro Phase-II, Amarnath alleged that the Revanth Reddy govt had abnormally increased estimations for the project. "For instance, the estimated cost per km for the Hyderabad Metro Phase-II is Rs 318 crore, whereas the AP govt's estimation for Vijayawada city metro is just Rs 260 crore and for Visakhapatnam it is just Rs 248 crore per km," the BJP leader said.
"For whose benefit are these inflated Metro Phase-II estimates? Who will pocket the 30% excess per km," he asked.
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