VIJAYAWADA: The State government has decided to take up the issue of special category status (SCS) with the 15th Finance Commission, which commenced its four-day visit to the State on Tuesday. The argument of the State government is that the Centre had denied SCS to the State citing the 14th Finance Commission recommendations and that it wanted to know the stand of the 15th Finance Commission on the issue.
The State government has already prepared a report containing various issues to be raised before the Finance Commission, led by its Chairman NK Singh. The government will give a presentation before the panel explaining its demands. On the official twitter handle of the 15th Finance Commission, Singh mentioned that the commission’s visit to AP is aimed at understanding the issues related to State finances in general and the impact of bifurcation in particular.
Though the 14th Finance Commission has recommended over Rs 2 lakh crore as AP’s share from the pool of Central devolution from 2015-16 to 2019-20, a senior State government official said they were expecting nearly Rs 4 lakh crore. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and other officials will give a detailed presentation before the panel in Velagapudi on Thursday.
Other issues to be raised