Hyderabad, Feb 10 (Reporter) Telangana Finance Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu tabled a Rs 2,75,891 crore vote on the account budget for 2024–25 in the state assembly here on Saturday. This would be the first budget presented by the Congress government as a vote-on-account budget after the formation of Telangana State. Bhatti projected revenue expenditure at Rs 2,01,178 crore and capital expenditure at Rs 29,669 crore. This is against the Rs 2,24,626 crore budget presented for the 2023–24 financial year by the previous TRS government. Bhatti, while presenting the budget in the House, said the government is planning to cut down on wasteful expenditure in day-to-day government operations and also by curbing expenditure on unwarranted infrastructural assets. The budget focuses on people’s overall development, progress, and happiness, the Finance Minister said. The earlier TRS government made the state ‘bankrupt’ and the burden of unplanned loans is a major challenge. He said that'we will stand by the people with planned development goals’. The development of the state in terms of education, health, infrastructure, and employment is one of the main demands of the Telangana movement, but for the last ten years (since the TRS government) in ten budgets, none of these issues have been covered in a planned manner. The Financial Minister alleged and said that our budget will change that course and make it people-centered development for their welfare. This budget is to fulfill the Congress government’s commitment to establishing'Indiramma Rajyam’ in Telangana. Bhatti said the central focus of the budget is the overall development of the Telangana state. ‘ I propose two-pronged development of Telangana, including the development of weaker sections of Telanganas by spending budget resources on the six guarantees with a rational principle’, he said, saying that no family below the poverty line should be left untouched with the resource development of their families and persons. The six guarantees included—the Mahalakshmi, Rythu Bharosa, Gruha Jyothi, Indiramma Houses, Yuva Vikasam, and Cheyutha—would also be implemented, and at the same time, this budget keeps in mind a vast agrarian sector to boost production, the Finance Minister said in his 40-page budget speech. We also keep urban development with planned industrialization and production, he said. In the fiscal year 2023–24, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Telangana showed an increase in current prices from Rs 13,02,371 crore in 2022–23 to Rs 14,49,708 crore. However, the economic growth rate exhibited a downward trend, declining from 14.7 percent to 11.3 percent during the same period, he said, adding that the growth rate at the national level, however, showed a sharper decline, falling from 16.1 percent to 8.9 percent. Consequently, Telangana’s state growth rate was higher by 2.4 percentage points compared to India's GDP growth rate, he said. The per capita income based on present-day prices is expected to be Rs 3,43,297 in 2023–24. It was Rs 3,09,912 last year, but the growth rate has decreased, Bhatti added...////...