AP CM reiterates familiar demands with PM yet again

Special category status, funds for Polavaram project, and pending state bifurcation promises are some of the many demands reiterated yet again by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.

Special category status, funds for Polavaram project, and pending state bifurcation promises are some of the many demands reiterated yet again by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. Nine years after the bifurcation of united AP 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 the services sector among others. Likewise, he requested the Prime Minister to sanction Rs 10,000 crore in an ad hoc manner to advance Polavaram project rapidly, besides immediately approving Rs 55,548 crore for the same project as estimated by the Technical Advisory Committee, including treating drinking water supply component as a part of it. “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 CM observed. Similarly, he urged Modi to raise the credit limit from Rs 17,923 crore which was cut down from Rs 42,472 crore post-COVID-19 pandemic as well as reimbursing the arrears of Rs 2,601 crore incurred by the state government as part of the Polavaram project. Further, he reminded Modi of Rs 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. Also, the CM called for a speedy release of dues from the Telangana government, especially Rs 7,058 crore outstanding dues from the neighbouring state’s DISCOMS to APGENCO for the power supplied between 2014 and 2017.

According to Reddy, faulty selection of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act had compelled the state to incur a financial burden of Rs 5,527 crore for supplying rations to 56 lakh families under PMGKAY. As a consequence for 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 Kadapa district.

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