NEW DELHI: Stating that Andhra Pradesh suffered revenue losses due to its bifurcation and the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday sought relaxation in the credit limit of the state and early approval to the revised estimate of the Polavaram Irrigation Project.
During the hour-long meeting, the chief minister brought to the notice of the prime minister many of the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act-2014 that have still not been implemented, official sources said.
According to an official statement, the chief minister said that the state government has lost revenue due to bifurcation and COVID-19 pandemic and "urged the prime minister to relax credit limit of the state."
The state government has spent Rs 32,625.25 crore in the form of pending bills during the bifurcation and for the implementation of 10th Wage Commission recommendations, he said and urged the prime minister to fill the revenue deficit.
Reddy also requested Modi for early approval to the revised cost estimate of the Polavaram National Irrigation Project amounting Rs 55,548.87 crore at the 2017-18 price level.
Noting that Rs 31,118 crore needs to be spent on the project -- Rs 8,590 crore for construction and Rs 22,598 crore for rehabilitation -- he requested for clearance of the bills in toto, and not component-wise.
Reddy also sought direct transfer of rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) package amount to the accounts of beneficiaries without any delay.
During his interaction with Modi, the chief minister flagged the inadequate coverage of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act.
"While the state government is providing ration to 1.45 crore families, only 0.89 crore families are receiving ration from the central government," he said and requested PM Modi to provide ration as per the revised state data.
Renewal of approval of the site clearances for greenfield international airport at Bhogapuram, setting up of an Integrated Steel Plant in YSR district, allotment of beach sand minerals to Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation in sixteen places, and approval for for setting up of another 12 teaching hospitals in the state were some of the major issues discussed in the meeting.
The chief minister also sought the prime minister's intervention in resolving the dispute over electricity arrears between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh pending since the bifurcation of the erstwhile state in June 2014.
An amount of Rs 6,455.76 crore is receivable by Andhra Pradesh Generation Corporation Limited (APGENCO) from the Telangana State Distribution Utilities and Telangana Discoms, he added.
This was Reddy's second meeting Modi this year.
Later, Reddy called on Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and discussed issues pertaining to his state.