Special category status, funds for the Polavaram project, and pending state bifurcation promises are some of the many demands reiterated yet again by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, 17 March.
Nine years after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and several rounds of discussions, Reddy appealed to Modi on living up to the promise of according Special Category Status, which brings a host of benefits such as grants and tax concessions, benefiting large-scale industries and services sector among others.
Likewise, he requested the Prime Minister to sanction ₹10,000 crore in an ad hoc manner to advance the Polavaram project rapidly, besides immediately approving ₹55,548 crore for the same project as estimated by the Technical Advisory Committee, including treating the drinking water supply component as a part of it.
Also read: Buggana presents ₹2.79 lakh crore Andhra Pradesh budget
Compensation for Polavaram flood victims
“I appeal that the Polavaram project flood victims be compensated as soon as possible. I would like to bring to your notice that as the delay increases, the cost of the project increases. Delays can be avoided if this assistance is provided to flood victims in a DBT manner,” the chief minister observed.
Similarly, he urged Modi to raise the credit limit from ₹17,923 crore which was cut down from ₹42,472 crore post-Covid-19 pandemic as well as reimbursing the arrears of ₹2,601 crore incurred by the state government as part of the Polavaram project.
Further, Jagan reminded Modi of ₹36,625 crore pending under the resource gap funding for fiscal 2014-15, which the central government had promised to fund in the Parliament to be fulfilled through the concerned departments, during the meeting.
ప్రధానమంత్రి శ్రీ నరేంద్ర మోదీతో ముఖ్యమంత్రి శ్రీ వైయస్.జగన్ భేటీ.
పార్లమెంటులోని ప్రధానమంత్రి కార్యాలయంలో భేటీ.
రాష్ట్రానికి సంబంధించిన పలు అంశాలపై ప్రధానితో చర్చించిన ముఖ్యమంత్రి. pic.twitter.com/OyQxZsE3X3— CMO Andhra Pradesh (@AndhraPradeshCM) March 17, 2023
Also read: Jagan to start working out of Visakhapatnam from July
Release of dues from Telangana
Also, the chief minister called for a speedy release of dues from the Telangana government, especially ₹7,058 crore outstanding dues from the neighbouring state’s DISCOMS to APGENCO for the power supplied between 2014 and 2017.
According to Reddy, the faulty selection of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act had compelled the state to incur a financial burden of ₹5,527 crore for supplying rations to 56 lakh families under PMGKAY.
As a consequence of this expenditure, he requested the state to be compensated by unused ration stocks as recommended by the NITI Aayog.
Moreover, he requested Modi to grant permission for 12 medical colleges which are yet to receive clearance and allot required mines to APMDC to cater to the raw material needs of the steel plant in the Kadapa district.
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