HYDERABAD: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has once again voiced his displeasure over the ‘inordinate delay’ in implementing assurances given to the State by the Centre. Naidu, who flew to Delhi on Friday, termed the tax concessions and incentives announced to the State ‘inadequate’.
“The concessions and incentives will not be of much use to the State in making it an attractive investment destination and increase its revenues. It should be given industrial incentives like those given to Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. A special package should also be offered to Rayalaseema,” he demanded.
Interestingly, Naidu made the comments at a press conference soon after meeting Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and requesting him to release more funds to AP. Naidu claimed that the Centre had to pay `17,786 crore arrears to the State. “So far, the Centre has released `500 crore. Another `2,500 crore is likely to be given shortly,” he revealed.
Seeking to push the Centre on the backfoot, he said, “AP is facing a grave financial crisis. It is the duty of the Centre to come to the rescue of the cash-starved State. We are asking our legitimate share of funds.” In reply to a query, he said the Centre had agreed to release `1,000 crore for the construction of the capital as the first instalment and hoped that it would release another `500 crore for the same in the coming days. According to him, the Union government will announce a railway zone for the State in April.
Earlier, Naidu went to former PM Vajpayee’s residence along with several other leaders to witness the award of Bharat Ratna to the BJP’s icon by President Pranab Mukherjee. Later, he demanded Bharat Ratna for TDP founder NTR.