VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has asked the party MPs to seek release of various grants to the tune of several thousand crores of rupees, due from the Centre to the State.
Presiding over the YSRC Parliamentary Party meeting at Tadepalle on Friday, Jagan discussed the strategies to be adopted in the winter session of Parliament commencing on November 18. He explained the current status of Polavaram, revenue gap reimbursement, several pending issues of the AP Reorganisation Act, among others.
He said the party, which is the fourth largest in Parliament, was duty-bound to raise the issue of Special Category Status in the House. Out of Rs 11,800 crore spent on Polavaram by the State government, only Rs 8,577 crore was reimbursed.
"Most importantly the revised estimates of the project — Rs 55,549.87 crore — needs to be raised," he said and asked the party MPs to elaborate that due to the clueless planning of the previous administration regarding the project, there was a delay of four months in executing the works.
The YSRC chief observed that once cofferdam is completed, water will reach up to 41.5 meters in the river, which will flood several villages, hence there is an urgent need to implement Rehabilitation and Resettlement. He asked the MPs to stress for the release of Rs 10,000 crore R&R package, Rs 6,000 crore for project works and clearing the dues of Rs 3,222 crore at the earliest.
The MPs were told that the Centre had to release a total of Rs 7,530 crore for the seven backward districts, of which only Rs 1,050 crore was received till date. He asked the MPs to press for pending Rs 2,246 crore dues of MGNREGS and an increase in construction of roads under PMGSY from 3,285 km to 6,135 km. MPs were asked to mount pressure on the Centre for 12 lakh houses as per the new list.
When the MPs brought the problems occurring due to the eligibility criteria fixed by the Centre regarding housing, the Chief Minister said he would write a letter to the Centre requesting relaxation of norms. On the revenue deficit grant, which remained a major controversy between the State and the Centre since the bifurcation in 2014, the Chief Minister said the Centre still owed Rs 18,969 crore.
Jagan asked his MPs to seek seven more medical colleges to the State and a major port at Ramayapatnam.
The Chief Minister also wanted them to raise the issue of shifting the location of the Tribal University. "Most of all, demand National project status to Godavari-Krishna interlinking project," he stressed.
Discussing the prevailing political atmosphere in the State, it was decided to effectively counter the propaganda of the TDP and explain facts to the people. Chief Minister told MPs that after local body elections are over, nominated posts would be filled. Rajya Sabha member Vijayasai Reddy, MPs P Mithun Reddy and YS Avinash Reddy and others attended the meeting.