VIJAYAWADA: The ruling YSR Congress (YSRC) has expressed its unhappiness over the Union Budget’s failure in giving any special attention to the State and its silence on the assurances made in the AP Reorganisation Act. YSRC Parliamentary Party leader V Vijayasai Reddy and party’s floor leader in the Lok Sabha PV Midhun Reddy minced no words and said the Budget gave ‘zero’ to the State. However, they welcomed several of the schemes/initiatives of the government.
Speaking to the media soon after the Budget was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the YSRC leaders observed that there was a marginal increase in the State’s share of Rs 34,000-35,000 crore from the Central pool of taxes. “That (State’s share from central pool) is every State’s right and, compared to last year, our share has increased marginally but it is not significant,’’ Vijayasai Reddy said. The RS MP said the Budget mentioned how 200 km of the proposed 300 km metro rail across the country in 2018 was operationalised.
“However, even Detailed Project Reports for the proposed metro rail projects in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam are not ready. In this aspect, the Budget rendered injustice to AP,’’ Vijayasai Reddy said. The Centre said that Bharat Mala and Sagar Mala were revamped but there was no specific mention of what AP would get out of them, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, MP Midhun Reddy said that there was no mention of Special Category Status to AP either in the Budget. “The Budget is nice to hear but when it comes to implementation, it lacks any concrete scheme,’’ he observed.
What the YSRC said
The Centre plans to upgrade 1.25 lakh km roads across the country at a cost of Rs 80,250 crore in five years but there is no mention of AP. The Centre says it has constructed 9.6 crore toilets and promises to make every village ODF but when we visit villages, the scenario we found is different.The Centre is discreetly resorting to disinvestment of PSUs though we opposed it
AP has a revenue deficit of Rs 22,000 crore (when it was bifurcated) and with mismanagement by the previous government, it now reached Rs 50,000-Rs 60,000 crore. We expected Centre to address it and the Centre had in fact assured help to the State. But, it did not happen.