VIJAYAWADA: Urging the 15th Finance Commission (FC) to recommend accordance of Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh, Opposition parties YSRC, CPI and CPM submitted a memorandum to the chairman of the commission NK Singh on Thursday. While the principal Opposition party YSRC requested the commission to also recommend Rs 60,000 crore grant for reviving the economic situation in the State, the BJP sought higher allocation of funds for backward districts.
Delegations from each party met the members of the 15th Finance Commission at the Secretariat on Thursday and gave representations. They also urged the commission to use 1971 census as the basis for fund allocation instead of 2011, stating that Andhra Pradesh had effectively implemented population control in the interest of the country.
“We also requested the commission to recommend full waiver of outstanding central loans as on March 31, 2019. The commission also should recommend that AP be permitted a fiscal deficit of six per cent of GSDP during the next five years,” YSRC leader Ummareddy Venkateswarlu said.
CPI leader K Ramakrishna sought an increase in the devolution to the States from 42 per cent to 50 per cent. He also requested that Prakasam be included in the list of backward districts. “The commission should also recommend a mutually agreeable grant for the construction of Amaravati,” he observed.
Meanwhile, BJP chief spokesperson Sudhish Rambhotla, in the representation to Commission, remarked that the State was affected by a malady of governance with wrong priorities, and asked the FC to evolve necessary conditionalities so that the State spends its resources on socially relevant sectors as well.