VIJAYAWADA: AP State Planning Board Vice-Chairman C Kutumba Rao has said that the State government will lobby hard with the Centre for reimbursing the Rs 16,000 crore revenue deficit calculated at the time of division of the State in 2014. In reply to a question at a news conference here on Wednesday, he said that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Union Minister Sujana Chowdary will approach the Union Finance Ministry with the State’s argument that the total revenue deficit was Rs 16,000 crore and that it has to be reimbursed fully.
Kutumba Rao took exception to the Centre’s calculation that the revenue deficit of the State for the year 2014-15 was only Rs 4,117 crore.He said that the Rs 16,000 crore figure was arrived at after making careful calculation under the supervision of the Governor of the combined State of AP after the commencement of the financial year 2014-15 but before the State was divided on June 2 the same year. The CAG, too, had approved the amount. The deficit included the outgo of funds towards payment of PRC arrears to employees, a decision which was taken when the State was united.
But Kutumba Rao said the Centre now contends that the revenue deficit has gone up because the State had included the money spent on welfare schemes during the year 2014-15 which included in the debt waiver scheme for farmers which stood at Rs 7,069 crore Kutumba Rao pointed out that resolution of issues of this nature would take very long and he would not be surprised if it takes another three to four years. “It is not like ordering a pizza or a burger. These issues take time,” the Planning Board Vice-Chairman said. According to finance department sources, the Centre’s intention appears to be suggesting that it owed nothing to AP.