Hyderabad: The Union Budget had nothing for AP as far as allocation of funds was concerned.
The Centre did not honour a single request made by the state prior to the Budget. While many projects were allotted only nominal funds, there was no fund allocation for the construction of Amaravati.
There was also no mention of special category status to AP or the special financial package that had been promised by the Prime Minister.
Union finance minister Arun Jaitley only said: “The Centre will implement all the assurances given in the AP Reorganisation Act in letter and sprit.”
Besides low funds allocation for the coming financial year, the AP government is losing around Rs 342 crore as its share in Central tax devolutions this financial year.
The 14th Finance Commission had recommended Rs 28,776 crore as the state’s share in the Central tax devolutions for the current financial year but the Centre has allotted Rs 22,236 crore in the Budget. In the revised estimates, the Centre’s revenue has come down to 8 per cent from 12.5 per cent in the Budget estimate.
Every month, the Centre allots around Rs 2,000 crore to the state under tax devolutions. Due to shortfall of revenue, the Centre will cut Rs 342 crore in March.
Principal secretary, finance, P.V. Ramesh said that this was a big blow to the state government. In the Union Budget allocations, the state government had requested the Centre to make provisions of Rs 4,000 crore for Amaravati and Rs 4,000 crore for Polavaram.
However, not a single rupee was allocated for the capital. For the prestigious Vijayawada Metro Rail project, the Centre has allotted Rs 106 crore as its equity share, and only Rs 3 lakh for the Vizag Metro Rail project.
