Hyderabad: The Telugu Desam government, which will complete one year in office on June 8, did not get much financial support from the Centre. Special category status to AP has been more or less put on the backburner. The state government had expected that the Central loan would be converted to a grant, along with relaxation of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act and a special grant to bridge the fiscal deficit, special development package etc.
However, the Centre gave little financial assistance despite the TD being a partner in the NDA government. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had written several times to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union finance Minister Arun Jaitley regarding financial assistance. AP had to make do with nominal funds from the Centre.
The state government had asked the centre to convert the Rs 10,090 crore loans that had been advanced by it over the years into grants. It had also requested the Centre to restructure the outstanding dues of Externally Aided Projects (EAP) into 90 per cent Central grants and limit the state’s liability to 10 per cent. But the Centre did not take any decision.
According to the provision in the State Reorganisation Act, under the special development package, the state government had sent project proposals with an outlay of Rs 24,350 crore over five years and had asked for Rs 5,000 crore to be released for the 2014-15 financial year. But the Centre sanctioned only Rs 350 crore.
The state had requested the Centre to sanction Rs 15,691 crore to bridge the revenue deficit for the 2014-15 financial year, but to no avail. The Centre released Rs 500 crore to fill the revenue deficit gap in the present financial year.
The Centre also raised several queries regarding the state’s Rs 1.35 lakh crore detailed project report on the capital city Amaravati. Instead of releasing Rs 5,000 crore for the development of the capital’s basic physical infrastructure, as initially asked for, the Centre released only Rs 1,500 crore.
