Centre cuts state’s estimates for extra share under Centrally Sponsored Schemes

Amaravati: The Centre has cut down the estimates made by the Andhra Pradesh government towards an additional share under Centrally-Sponsored Schemes (CSS) for the period 2015-16 to 2019-20.

Discounting the estimates of the state that it should get a sum of Rs 16,447 crore as an additional share under Centrally-Sponsored Schemes for the period 2015-16 to 2019-20, the Centre maintained that the actual amount Andhra Pradesh is eligible for would only be Rs 12,700 crore.

The gap in the calculations between AP and the Centre, which amounts to Rs 3,747 crore, is huge for a state that is reeling under an acute scarcity of funds. Add Rs 435 crore to the variation in the figures for 2015-16 financial year in particular, the aggregate becomes Rs 4,182 crore, a top official in the know of things said on the condition of anonymity. “We could take up one major project with that money without having to borrow from foreign agencies. We can’t obviously forego that,” the official said.

Incidentally, the externally-aided projects is another issue over which the Centre and the state have been wrangling. The Centre reportedly communicated the discounted figure related to CSS to state government officials who were pursuing the issue following a letter written by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the subsequent meeting the Chief Minister had with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As the Centre's position was relayed to the Chief Minister, he called an emergency meeting with Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y S Chowdary, state Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, Chief Secretary Dinesh Kumar, AP’s Resident Commissioner in New Delhi Praveen Prakash, Special Commissioner Rajat Bhargava and other top officials here on Saturday to discuss the fallout.

“The Chief Minister was visibly rattled over the Centre's stand, more so in the context of NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman’s observations on the state’s economic growth story,” the official said. On January 5, Naidu wrote a letter to Jaitley stating that AP “tentatively arrived” at Rs 16,447 crore as the sum it “might have received” in the ratio of 90:10 under Centrally-Sponsored Schemes for five years from 2015-16 to 2019-20.

That was part of the special assistance measures the Centre promised to the state in September 2016 in lieu of the special category status. The Chief Minister took up the issue again with the Prime Minister when they met in New Delhi on January 12.

The Union Finance Ministry’s calculation of the state’s gross eligibility under CSS, at a time when AP was expecting an “enhanced funds flow”, came a shocker on top of what was previously delivered in the form of a heavy cut in the revenue deficit computation. While the state claimed a revenue deficit of Rs 16,078.76 crore for the year 2014-15, as a consequence of the state bifurcation, the Centre cut it down to Rs 7,500 crore.

The Centre was supposed to bridge this deficit in accordance with the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. In the last three years, the Centre released Rs 3,979.5 crore under this head. “Even as per their calculations, we have to get another Rs 3,500 crore but the Centre is now saying we will get another Rs 138.39 crore only,” the Chief Minister said while addressing a workshop of TDP MPs and legislators here on Sunday. In fact, Naidu had raised this issue also during his meeting with the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister reportedly sent the state’s plea to the Finance Ministry for remarks. Now, the state government is preparing a document afresh listing its case on finances “in specific terms” as reportedly sought by the Prime Minister.