Hyderabad: The Centre has agreed in- principle to release Rs 3,000 crore out of the pending Rs 4,929 crore to Andhra Pradesh towards reimbursement for the construction of the Polavaram project.
After the announcement of Polavaram as a national project by the Centre, the state government took charge of its construction and has spent Rs 11,655 crore so far of which, the Centre has released Rs 6,726 crore.
Following the directions issued by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy during a review meeting on irrigation, Special Chief Secretary, irrigation, Adityanath Das visited Delhi and held discussions with officials of the Union finance and water resources ministries on Thursday.
According to sources, Mr Das explained to the officials that the state government was facing a severe financial crisis and requested them to facilitate the release of the remaining money spent on the Polavaram project.
Water resources department officials reportedly agreed to release Rs 3,000 crore and forwarded the request to the finance department for approval, following which the funds will be released.
Water resources department officials told Andhra Pradesh officials that the pending amount of Rs 1,929 crore will be released only after the state government submits utilisation certificates.
Also, under the employment guarantee scheme, the Centre released Rs 708 crore to the Andhra Pradesh. According to officials, the Centre has yet to release over another Rs 1,000 crore under the scheme.
