CM raises Polavaram, SCS at SZC meet

 *CM raises Polavaram, SCS at SZC meet

*

Tirupati, Nov 14 (prajaamaravati): Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has raised the issues of Polavaram, Special Category Status and other promises made during the State bifurcation at the 29th Southern Zonal Council meeting held here on Sunday.

Soeaking at the meeting, chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Chief Minister sought the Centre's help in keeping up the promises made during State division, those in the Act and those assued in the Parliament.

The Chief Minister said even after seven years of bifurcation, majority of the commitments remain unfulfilled and Andhra Pradesh continues to face immense economic hardships and deprivation.

The Chief Minister has sought that full funding be provided for Polavaram project and the completion of the project by Government of India be ensured in line with the letter and spirit of the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014. He also requested to accord Special Category Status to the state.

The Chief Minister said the total resource gap for the first financial year after state  bifurcation is Rs. 22,948.76 crores. However, the Central Government has subsequently introduced a new concept of “Standardized Expenditure” and conveyed that their liability to compensate the State is only to tune of Rs. 4,117.89 crores he said and sought central government's intervention in revisiting this topic to find a suitable solution at the earliest.

He has sought for the Central Government’s intervention for settlement of the power dues between the two States and added that an amount of Rs. 6,112Cr is receivable by Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Limited from the Telangana distribution utilities.

The Chief Minister said the State government has been supplying water at Tamil Nadu border as and when requested by Tamil Nadu Government to meet the drinking water needs of Chennai city. Of the compensation required to be paid for infrastructure and cost associated with operation and maintenance, an amount of Rs. 338.48 crores has been pending for the past 10 years and  requested  that suitable steps be taken to settle this amount at the earliest. The Chief Minister said Tamilnadu Government has been opposing Palaru project and added that only 0.6 TMC of water will be stored in  the project and  provide drinking water to Kuppum and sought Central Government's intervention.

The Chief Minister said that the unprecedented move of reducing the borrowing limit to accommodate for the so called overborrowing pertaining to a 5-year period of the previous Government, particularly during these extraordinary times of pain and suffering caused by the outbreak of the pandemic, would debilitate the fiscal health of the State and sought the urgent intervention of the Central Government.

The Chief Minister said the  inadequate coverage of the State’s beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, has been troubling the state and urged that the State’s data be revisited and corrected and that a comprehensive view be taken on the poverty levels in the State, wider coverage of population of Andhra Pradesh under (Targetted Public Distribution System) TPDS be ensured and the anomaly be corrected.

The Chief Minister has requested the Central Government to fulfill the other assurances such as completion of 8 infrastructure projects, full-fledged establishment of 11 institutions of national importance under Schedule XIII of the Act by 2024, sanction of special development package for backward districts on the lines of Bundelkhand special package and  legal division of assets approximately valued at Rs.1,42,601 Cr. belonging to institutions listed under Schedules IX and X and of institutions not mentioned in the Act.