NITI Ayog told to release amounts to develop State backward areas

Hyderabad: State Planning Board vice-chairman B Vinod Kumar on Thursday urged the NITI Ayog to release instalments pertaining to the development of backward areas in Telangana, under the special assistance, as per Section 94(2) of AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.

Vinod met NITI Ayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar and thanked him for recommending a special development package for Telangana amounting to Rs 24,205 crore under Section 94(2) of the Act. The section mandates the Centre to support programmes for development of backward areas in the State, including expansion of physical and social infrastructure. Based on the recommendation of NITI Aayog, the Finance Ministry sanctioned Rs 450 crore (Rs.50 crore each for nine of the then ten districts).

Vinod said the amount sanctioned falls short of the amount recommended by NITI Aayog significantly. The State government is yet to receive grants for 2019-20 and the current year amounting to Rs 900 crore.

With the exception of Hyderabad, all erstwhile nine districts of the State were covered under the Backward Regions Grant Fund, since terminated in 2015-16. After the State formation, there was re-organisation of districts taking their total number from 10 to 33. With this, the number of backward districts has increased from nine to 32. This has increased the State's commitment for developing infrastructure in the newly created districts for promoting growth, he said.