VIJAYAWADA: Yet again, the State budget presented by Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath has skipped naming Amaravati in the State Budget, while presenting it in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday. There has been no specific budgetary allocations for Amaravati.
Here it should be noted that the issue related to development of infrastructure in Amaravati is pending in the Supreme Court. In its verdict on the capital city issue last year, High Court had directed the state government to develop infrastructure in Amaravati as per the master plan. However, state government has challenged the same in the Supreme Court.
In the outcome budget document, Rs 500 crore has been earmarked for developing essential infrastructure for the new capital city. The document, however, did not specifically name Amaravati.Further, Rs 240.09 crore was allocated under the head Land Pooling for the new State capital. The objective was specified as payments of annuity to the farmers in Land Pooling System and the annual target for FY 2023-24 as 25,082 people.
Rs 500 crore was earmarked as an assistance to Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority and another Rs 88 crore earmarked for the capital region social security fund to reimburse the tuition fee of the students of Amaravati capital city area families, free health to all residents of the captial city area, and the pensions to poor, landless families.
Interestingly, in the budget speech, the finance minister said Mangalagiri and Tadepalli are being developed as model towns by upgrading the infrastructure and services.Here it should be noted that Tadepalle-Mangalagiri is where the residence-cum-camp office of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is located.