VIJAYAWADA: Even as the YSRC government has not made any concrete announcement with respect to Amaravati development, it has allocated Rs 550 crore for the new capital. Another Rs 65 crore has been earmarked towards capital region social security fund, to be paid as an annuity to the farmers of Amaravati.
According to the budget volumes, Rs 500 crore has been allocated for the infrastructure development; Rs 50 crore for the Amaravati Capital City Development Project under which a few other sub-projects would be taken up. The government also plans to tap more funds for the capital through the Smart City Mission.
For the record, the TDP government in its last two budgets had allocated Rs 690 crore and Rs 1,061 crore respectively.
The considerable budgetary allocation is likely to allay the concerns among stakeholders, especially farmers, that the new government might not take forward the capital development.While funds have been allocated in the budget, it remains to be seen if the YSRC government would go by the proposal submitted during the TDP regime, which estimates Rs 1.09 lakh crore for Amaravati development. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has not made any specific announcement regarding Amaravati, except calling it a scam and its development a ‘Catch-22’ situation.
Meanwhile, the maiden budget of the YSRC allocated 14.9 per cent lesser funds to Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) department compared to last year. Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath proposed an allocation of Rs 6,587.09 crore against last year’s Rs 7,740.8 crore.
However, this year’s allocation is marginally higher than last year’s revised estimates (at the end of the fiscal year) of Rs 6,562.13 crore.
City-based Taxpayers’ Association (TPA) expressed discontent regarding lower allocations to MAUD. “The government allocated only 2.89 per cent of the entire budget towards urban development.
About 30 per cent of State’s population lives in urban areas, most of whom don’t have proper infrastructure including drinking water (supply and storage), underground drainage and sanitation, roads and footpaths. At least 40 per cent of the budget should be allocated to local bodies,” TPA’s V Sambi said.
Allocation for the State capital
Rs 500 crore for infrastructure
Rs 50 crore for development projects
Rs 65 crore towards capital region social security fund
Rs 3.6 crore for Amaravati Metro Rail
Rs 10 crore for urban development assistance to Amaravati and Visakhapatnam metro rails