Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister says special tag vital for the state
Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said there was no written statement on funds
Hyderabad/Vijayawada: AP finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Monday contradicted Union minister of science Sujana Chowdary’s statement and said that there was no written communication from the Centre about receiving Rs 10,000 crore by this month-end.
When asked by reporters in his chambers in the AP Legislative Assembly on Monday regarding Mr Chowdary’s assurance that the Centre was going to disburse Rs 10,000 crore to the state for tiding over the revenue deficit and for capital construction, Mr Ramakrishnudu said that the government had received no information about it.
Regarding Mr Sujana’s comments that special category status and industrial incentives would work out only to Rs 3,300 crore and that efforts were on to get alternate benefits, Mr Ramakrsihndu said, “It may be his personal opinion. But the state’s stand on special category is consistent. We are seeking special category status and industrial incentives as assured in Parliament and all other benefits as envisaged in the AP Reorganisation Act.”
Mr Yanamala added, “The state has submitted all proposals regarding the funds. If the Centre is claiming that we haven’t submitted the same, they may not have seen them. The detailed project report for the capital construction can’t be submitted now. We have to prepare the final master plan be-fore sending the DRP”.
Pending issues to be discussed with centre
A team of the Andhra Pradesh BJP including MPs K. Hari Babu, Ganga Raju, state ministers Kamineni Srinivas, P. Manikyala Rao and other party MLAs and senior leaders left to New Delhi on Mon-day. They will meet Prime Minister Modi, party president Amit Shah and home minister Rajnath Singh.
The team will discuss issues like special status, Polavaram, railway zone and other important issues, which were promised in the AP Reorganisation Bill. The BJP team is focused on the problems of Rayalaseema. The team will tell the leadership the severity of the water shortage in Rayalaseema, said state party office in-charge P. Dileep.
Speaking to DC he said the completion of the Polavaram project would help Rayalaseema also and the leaders would discuss its funding with finance minister Arun Jaitley.
The team will also demand a railway zone for the new state.