CM Jagan meets PM Modi over funds for Andhra Pradesh

VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Jagan Reddy on Monday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital and sought central reimbursement of funds in 15 days for the Polavaram project and sanction of Rs. 10,000 crore on ad hoc basis to speed up the project works.
 
The chief minister discussed various issues of the state including the Polavaram project, compensating the resource gap funds, the rationality in coverage of beneficiaries under National Food Security Act, the arrears from Telangana discoms to the state and Special Category Status and submitted memorandums to the Centre to these effects.
 
Jagan requested the Prime Minister to help in completing the construction of the Polavaram project at the earliest and urged him to approve the revised cost estimates of `55,548.87 crore. The  technical advisory committee had already approved this, he said.
 
Also, the CM urged the PM to reimburse Rs.2900 crore that was spent by the state government towards the Polavaram Project and requested the Centre to clear the bills in a fortnightly format, like in other national projects, and not component-wise.
 
Further, the CM asked him to provide Rs.10,000 crore on an ad hoc basis so that the construction works of the project can be carried forward smoothly. He appealed to the PM to provide an R&R package to the displaced families in a DBT manner, which ensures transparency.
 
Jagan urged the PM to release funds of Rs.32,625 crore under Resource Gap Fund for various pending bills under 10th Pay Commission, including for social security pensions during the 2014-15 period.
 
The chief minister explained to the Prime Minister that due to the lack of rationalization in the selection of eligible persons under the National Food Security Act, the state is suffering serious losses. AP has already brought this matter to the PM’s attention, whereas a large number of needy and deserving persons were uncovered.
 
Jagan said the state government is providing ration to 2.68 crore people, of which 61 per cent were in rural areas and 41 per cent in urban areas. He explained to the PM that 3 lakh tonnes of the rice quota allotted to the state every month remained unutilized, and asked him to allocate only 77,000 tonnes, which will be sufficient for the distribution without causing any additional burden on the Centre.  

Discussing the promises given during state bifurcation in 2014, the chief minister stressed that there was no rationality in the bifurcation, because of which the present AP state suffered a lot. He requested the PM to fulfill the promises given as a parliamentary witness, including Special Category Status to AP
 
Jagan said an arrear of Rs 6,756 crore receivable by the Andhra Pradesh Generation Corporation Limited (APGENCO) from the Telangana Government has remained unpaid for over eight years. He requested the PM to help settle the dues at the earliest so that the state power sector will be financially strengthened.
 
The chief minister urged the PM to give approvals for setting up another 12 medical colleges in the state. As for the setting up of an Integrated Steel Plant in the YSR district, he requested the PM to allocate iron mines to APMDC for an uninterrupted supply of iron ore to operate the plant.
 
Jagan also urged the Prime Minister to give approvals to allot beach sand minerals to the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation, which could attract investments of `20,000 crore. He said that 14 approvals were in the ‘pending’ stage.