Centre refuses to give Niti Aayog report

Hyderabad: The central government has rejected the request of the state government to give a copy of the NITI Aayog report on central assistance to Andhra Pradesh. It was on the directions of PM Modi that NITI Aayog prepared the report a while ago. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had met the Prime Minister a few months ago and submitted a memorandum seeking a special financial package for the state government, and implementation of the assurances given by the Centre to the state in the AP Reorganisation Act. The PM, thereon, asked the NITI Aayog to prepare the report. While the report was submitted to the government, the state government is in the dark about its recommendations.

AP finance department officials sought a copy of the NITI Aayog report to know what its contents were, but the Centre rejected the request. AP state government development commissioner and ex-officio principal secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), P.V. Ram-esh, revealed this to the media. Meanwhile, the state is hopeful the Centre would release the necessary funds under “outstanding arrears of revenue gap” for the year 2014-15.  

Out of the Rs 16,078 crore revenue gap, the Centre has released about Rs 2,803 crore. The state has requested the Centre to release Rs 4,000 crore to pay the PRC arrears for the state government employees. After April 1, 2014, the state government has spent Rs 2,245 crore but the Centre has released only Rs 845 crore. The balance of Rs 1,400 crore is yet to be released. Mr Ramesh had, a couple of days ago, held talks with Union finance department officials in Delhi on financial issues. Ramesh has expressed the hope that the Centre would release some funds to the state at the earliest.