VIJAYAWADA: The YSRC will continue to raise the issue of Special Category Status (SCS) for the State, apart from demanding the Centre fulfil all the assurances made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, said Rajya Sabha MP V Vijayasai Reddy on Wednesday.
Speaking to newspersons after attending the all-party meeting convened in New Delhi on the eve of the Parliament session, the YSRC MP said they would seek fulfilment of all the bifurcation promises made on the floor of the House.
“The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised in the Rajya Sabha to accord SCS to AP for 10 years. The BJP, which came to power in the subsequent elections, has not yet fulfilled the bifurcation promise. SCS is the right of the State. The truncated State of Andhra Pradesh needs SCS for its overall development,” he asserted.
He also raised the issue of early release of funds for the Polavaram project, which is given the national project status. “The Centre has been positive on the release of funds for Polavaram. It has sanctioned Rs 12,911 crore recently and we urge the Centre to release the remaining Rs 4,233 crore at the earliest.
We have also urged the Centre to reimburse the Rs 1,310 crore spent by the State government on the project,” he said. Another aspect that the YSRC raised at the meeting was the setting up of a new railway zone with Visakhapatnam as its headquarters. “We will urge the Centre to start the new railway zone works at the earliest,’’ he said. The YSRC reiterated its opposition to the privatisation of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.