Visakhapatnam: Rajya Sabha member T. Subbarami Reddy on Wednesday flayed the Union government for not allocating enough funds for construction of AP’s new capital Amaravati, and to meet the state’s fiscal deficit.
Taking part in the discussion on Finance Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Subbarami Reddy said, “Hyderabad is a well-developed metropolitan city and yields sizeable income and revenue. But following bifurcation, it has been given to Telangana.
So, AP has to develop its own state capital from scratch. There is a commitment in the AP Reorganisation Act for grant of special assistance for development of the state capital for AP.
The Centre has given a paltry amount of Rs 850 crore for construction of Amaravati city. No substantial amount has been earmarked in the General Budget towards fulfilment of commitments made in the Act.” The senior MP demanded the Centre reimburse the revenue the residuary AP lost due to Hyderabad capital city going to TS.
He said that the Congress government provided a clause in the Reorganisation Act saying that the Centre will bear the entire cost of capital city construction. “Had there been a Congress government today, it would have certainly pumped more funds for the Amaravati capital city,” Mr Subbarami Reddy said.
The senior MP added that Polavaram is a national project and it would provide irrigation and power to both the states, but the Centre is not allocating adequate funds for the expeditious completion of the project.
“Only Rs 100 crore has been released in this year’s Budget for the project. At this rate, when would it be completed? The Central government must do justice to the six crore people of AP, who are very much agitated over the issue. I want the finance minister’s response to all the points raised in my speech,” he added.
The senior MP said that Section 2 of the Act clearly says the revenue deficit of AP should be borne by the Central government till the state became financially viable.
Mr Subbarami Reddy observed that the estimated revenue deficit was around Rs 4,868 crore and the fiscal deficit was estimated at around Rs 20,497 crore.
“According to the state government, the Centre has provided only Rs 50 crore per district per year for the seven districts — four in Rayalaseema and three in north coastal AP. At this rate, how do you expect AP to make economic progress along with other states?” the senior MP questioned. He also demanded MPLADS funds for MPs be raised to Rs 10 crore from the present Rs 5 crore per annum.
