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CM demands special category status
Highlights
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu listed the non-negotiable Special Category Status on the top of his agenda in his memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Tuesday. The one-and-a-half hour meeting at the PMO in the presence of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman, Aravind Panagariya, and other top officials saw Naidu forcefully putting forth his argument for the Special Status.
- Centre assures special financial assistance to AP
- NITI Aayog instructed to announce the details of assistance soon
- Announcement can come before Oct 22, the day fixed for the ground-breaking ceremony of new capital
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New Delhi: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu listed the non-negotiable Special Category Status on the top of his agenda in his memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Tuesday. The one-and-a-half hour meeting at the PMO in the presence of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman, Aravind Panagariya, and other top officials saw Naidu forcefully putting forth his argument for the Special Status.
Andhra Pradesh eminently qualified for the Special Status by virtue of non-viable nature of the State finances confirmed by the 14th Finance Commission and the economic and infrastructure backwardness, he said. Further the economic and human development indicators of three coastal and four Rayalaseema districts were closer to the Special Category States than other States.
Citing literacy rates, natural and climate changes that haunt the State, infant mortality rates and the impact of the decision to disconnect 12 Central schemes from Central assistance and transfer of revenue expenditure of anther 13 schemes to the States on the State's finances further, he pitched forth for the Status.
He also listed the Resource Gap pertaining to 2014-15 financial year and financial assistance to the proposed Capital, Amaravati, as essential components of help. Incentives for industrial development, measures for progress and development through establishment of institutions guaranteed in the Schedule XIII, assistance for Research and Training institutions, Polavaram Irrigation Project, socio-economic development needs etc as essential for creating an enabling environment to achieve full potential of economic growth.
He also pointed out that AP would be the only State other than Special Status category States in the country that would have subsisting revenue gap even in 2019-20 and potentially, afterwards too to argue that AP is the most fiscally disadvantaged State in the country.
The essential infrastructure including the Raj Bhavan, the Secretariat, High Court, Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council along with trunk infrastructure in the Capital region would cost around Rs 42,935 crore over the next five years, he said. This apart financial assistance was needed for the development of the capital along with technical support for the Metro rail projects in the State.
He said Rs 4,000 crore per annum was needed for the next five years for financing government buildings and other essential infrastructure. Excise duty exemptions, IT benefits and Capital investment subsidy were in addition to these, he said. Referring to the “problems with Telangana” while seeking a coordination mechanism to iron out differences smoothly, he said several issues under the Schedule 9 and 10 of the Reorganisation Act were pending still and recovery of tax arrears to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore was another irritant.
However, the Prime Minister directed the NITI Aayog to coordinate with the Andhra Pradesh officials speedily to resolve all these financial matters and also to consider the Special Status demand from the ‘substance’ part of it and not the jargon. This the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, clarified later as economic assistance and asked the Chief Minister to be content with the same.
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