Hyderabad: SUVs worth more than 5 crore rupees are being bought in Telangana for senior bureaucrats who are the top administrative officers in the state's 10 districts.
21 Toyota Fortuners will be bought over the next few weeks for Collectors and Joint Collectors. The purchase was announced in December by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao; now, as the new financial year begins, the budget has been formally cleared.
Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh last year as India's youngest state. In its first year of existence, it has reported a fiscal deficit of nearly Rs 17,000 crore. However, it has a revenue surplus of about Rs 530 crore which means the government is earning more from taxes than it is spending, and that it is investing in infrastructure and capital.
In August last year, the Chief Minister, popularly referred to as KCR, had launched the first phase of hi-tech police vehicles for Hyderabad and Cyberabad. As many as 100 Innova cars and 300 bikes were bought and assigned for patrolling. The fleet for the policemen across the state is to be modernised.
KCR has, however, not been able to keep his pre-election promises to farmers and other economically disadvantaged groups. He had promised loan waivers for farmers and housing projects for the homeless, all of which require much more investment than the state can afford.