HYDERABAD: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to immediately release the pending grant of Rs 1,800 crore to the backward districts of Telangana as per the AP Reorganisation Act.
The chief minister met Nimala Sitharaman in her chambers in Parliament on Friday.
Revanth discussed with the Union minister the grant which is to be received from the Centre for the development of backward districts and reminded her that the Union government had agreed to release a grant of Rs 450 crore to nine districts annually under the AP Reorganisation Act.
The chief minister apprised the Union minister of the management of High Court, Raj Bhavan, Lokayukta, State Human Rights Commission, Judicial Academy, and other public institutions in Hyderabad by the state government after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
The state government has already spent Rs 703.43 crore for management of respective institutions until the completion of the division of the institutions. He informed the Union minister that Andhra Pradesh owes Rs 408.49 crore as its share to Telangana.
The Andhra Pradesh government agreed to pay the amount and the Union home ministry also wrote to AP to pay the amount to Telangana. However, the AP government did not clear the dues till date, the chief minister said and pleaded with the Union minister to issue orders to AP for the payment of Rs 408.49 crore to Telangana with interest.
‘Unilateral decision’
Revanth also brought to the notice of the Union minister the orders issued unilaterally by the Union government for recovery of Rs 2,547.07 crore as Telangana share from the loans borrowed as foreign financial assistance for the projects taken up in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
He said that the Telangana government has already registered a strong protest in this regard but the Centre did not accept the plea to relieve Telangana from the payment burden and requested Sitharaman to review the matter again and take a proper decision.
The CM reminded the Union minister that the Centre had allocated all the funds related to Centrally Sponsored Schemes only to Andhra Pradesh in 2014-15.
He told the Union minister that of that amount, Rs 495.20 crore has to be transferred from AP to Telangana based on population in the Reorganization Act and appealed to her to intervene in the matter and release the funds due to Telangana.
+The AP government did not respond positively despite repeated requests to the Accountant General and Andhra Pradesh, he said.