Jagan raises Polavaram, SCS at SZC meet
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday raised the issues of Polavaram, Special Category Status and other promises made during the State bifurcation at the 29th Southern Zonal Council (SZC) meeting held here.
image for illustrative purpose
Tirupati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday raised the issues of Polavaram, Special Category Status and other promises made during the State bifurcation at the 29th Southern Zonal Council (SZC) meeting held here.
Speaking 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.
Reddy 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 Reorganisation Act, 2014. He also requested Centre 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 crore. However, the Central Government has subsequently introduced a new concept of "Standardised Expenditure" and conveyed that their liability to compensate the State is only to tune of Rs. 4,117.89 crore, he said and sought Central Government's intervention in revisiting this topic to find a suitable solution at the earliest.
He sought for the Central Government's intervention for settlement of the power dues between the two States and added that an amount of Rs. 6,112 crore 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 TN 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 croresl 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 TN 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.
