Naidu wanted the MPs to approach ministries along with state ministers for early release of funds for projects that come under their purview.
Published Jul 21, 2024 | 11:02 AM ⚊ Updated Jul 21, 2024 | 11:02 AM
N Chandrababu Naidu. (X)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday, 20 July, asked Telugu Desam Party MPs to liaise with the central government regularly and secure funds for projects in the state that have suffered on account of dearth of funds.
The Budget Session of Parliament begins on 22 July, and will conclude on 12 August. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman will present the Union Budget on 23 July.
The chief minister underscored the need to promote the interests of the state, and advised MPs to approach Union ministers if necessary, accompanied by state ministers, for early release of funds for the projects that come under their purview.
Naidu was addressing the first TDP Parliamentary Party meeting after taking over as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for a second term last month. The TDP has 16 MPs, and is a crucial partner in the alliance holding power at the Centre.
The chief minister reportedly stressed the need to get the Polavaram and Amaravati projects going again. Construction at Polavaram, for the multipurpose reservoir project on the River Godavari, began in 2004; although declared a project of national importance, it is currently running behind schedule – it was expected to be completed by 2021.
Naidu urged MPs to intercede with ministers and the officials at the Centre to ensure the release of funds for this project.
A white paper on the project released last month by the state government estimated that completion of Phase 1 of the project would cost ₹12,157 crore.
The chief minister had also urged the Centre to facilitate the visit of international experts to study structural deficiencies in project works in the last five years, when his party was in the opposition in the state; he claimed that budgetary support for the project had shrunk under the regime of the YSR Congress Party, and budget estimates have since risen.
The state government needs at least ₹12,157 crore infusion in the Polavaram project. Naidu, during the release of the White Paper on Polavaram recently, said that even if the works are taken up immediately, it would take at least four years for completion. Unless the revised estimate is approved by the Centre, funds will not flow from the Union government for this project.
Naidu is understood to have asked MPs to make use of the Jal Jeevan Mission of the Union government, aimed at ensuring access to water of good quality in rural areas of the country; he mentioned the Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, the Central government programme to support the productivity of farms, as a scheme under which funds could be sought for the irrigation project.
Ten years after the formation of Telangana through a bifurcation of the earlier Andhra Pradesh, Naidu rued that his state still did not have a capital city.
During his earlier stint as chief minister between 2014 and 2019, he had received assistance from Singapore to plan a new capital city, Amaravati. Singapore had aided in preparing a master plan free of cost, and the total cost was then estimated at ₹51,687 crore.
During the YSRCP regime, however, the capital city plan was abandoned and a new plan to decentralize, with three seats of governance, was explored. The law providing for three capitals was repealed in 2021. Earlier this month, Naidu told reporters that the construction of the new capital city would proceed as planned earlier.
The chief minister reminded MPs of the need to exert pressure on the Centre to keep promises made to the state in the AP State Reorganisation Act, 2014. He sought financial support from the Centre for the development of eight backward districts in the state, as promised in 2014.
Naidu reportedly asked MPs to work towards getting the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) back on track. It was reported recently that the state government was not acting to prevent the privatisation of the steel plant; the government was quick to react and assert that people must not be misled by such reports, but the chief minister offered no clarity about whether the privatisation proposal had been withdrawn.
Meanwhile, YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has threatened to sit in dharna in Delhi on Wednesday demanding imposition of President’s rule in the state, for what he perceived as rapid deterioration of law and order. The chief minister said Jagan Mohan Reddy’s actions were of no consequence, and MPs must concentrate on the work at hand.
(Edited by Rosamma Thomas)
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