VIJAYAWADA: After giving a patient hearing for about an hour and going through the wish list submitted by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought more details from the state government and assured him that he would examine them and take an appropriate action.
During the meeting between Modi and Naidu, which took place after about a year, the latter submitted detailed note to the former explaining what the state needed from the Centre to fulfil the promises enshrined in the AP State Reorganisation Act. Reiterating that the unscientific bifurcation resulted in severe hardship to the state, the Chief Minister said despite achieving remarkable growth rate in GSDP for the last three years, Andhra Pradesh stood at the bottom among Southern States in terms of per capita income.
“I explained to the Prime Minister in detail that many promises mentioned in the Act did not materialise even 4 years after its passage. As only one more year is left, I have appealed to the PM to fulfil all the promises in the coming year,’’ he said adding, “the State government is to get `17,000 crore towards the special assistance announced by the Centre in lieu of SCS.’’
Disclosing the details of his meeting with the Prime Minister to newsmen, Naidu said that Modi assured that he would look into all aspects and to personally review the pending issues related to Andhra Pradesh.
“He (Modi) is very clear and promised to sort out all the issues. Let’s see. We should have to hope and trust in this world,’’ he said.Stating that he was always ready for discussion to sort out any issues with Telangana, he said it was the Centre that should take the initiative to resolve the problems between the neighbours. “In case of the Centre failing to resolve the issues amicably, we will have to approach courts,” he said.
Stating that the State government so far spent `7,780.07 crore on Polavaram since it was declared national project, the Chief Minister said that the Centre released `4,329.06 crore. The remaining amount of `3,451 crore was yet to come from the Centre. “As we have already submitted the details of land acquisition, relief and rehabilitation and DPRs of Polavaram, I appealed to the PM to expedite the funding through Nabard for completing the project in time.”
While admitting that their initial target to release water through gravity from Polavaram project by 2018 would not become a reality due to loss of three crucial months, Naidu, however, was confident of completing the project by 2019 keeping in mind Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s timely help and the Polavaram Project Authority removing confusion over the designs and technical aspects.
When asked whether the Centre agreed to bear the escalated cost of relief and rehabilitation, he said it was in the Act and the Centre would have to give funds for the purpose. Referring to financial assistance for capital city, the CM said the Centre so far gave `2,500 crore of which `1,000 crore was allocated for drinking water and underground drainage system in Vijayawada and Guntur cities and `1,500 crore for Amaravati development.
Unkept promises
Visakhapatnam Railway Zone
Central University and Tribal University under Schedule XIII
Dugarajapatnam port
Increasing the number of Legislative Assembly constituencies to 225 from the existing 175
Steel Plant in Kadapa district
Metrorail projects in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam
Formation of a Taskforce to ensure the progress of resolving the bifurcation promises
Petroleum complex in Kakinada at an estimated cost of L33,000 crore by GAIL and HPCL