PNS|Vijayawada
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP from Guntur, Jayadev Galla, has appealed to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to respect the commitments made in the AP Reorganisation Act 2014, passed by the Parliament and to provide sufficient funds to fulfil all its provisions before deadline June 2, 2024.
MP Jayadev said NREGA allocation was reduced to Rs 60,000 crore from nearly Rs 90,000 crore in Revised Estimates for 2022-23. The allocation for the National Health Mission has decreased to Rs 36,787 crore from Rs 37,000 crore in Budget Estimates 2022-23, the allocation for PM Food Processing Enterprises to Rs 639 crore for 2023-24 from Rs 900 crore in 2022-23, and allocation for PM-KISAN dipped to Rs 60,000 crore as against Rs 68,000 crore this fiscal.
The MP deplored that the Finance Minister had disappointed the people of AP once again by not fulfilling bifurcation assurances. He recalled, “I have been making this speech now for nine years and I am sorry to say that I have to repeat myself year after year because none of the provisions has been fully fulfilled and the deadline is fast approaching.”
He said that there is no mention of the establishment of a new Railway Zone for AP, and there is no mention of Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam metro, both of which were promised in the AP Reorganisation Act. In the 2022-23 Budget, the Union government gave back IGST to the tune of Rs 3,631 crore for SCS States (they still exist) as an incentive for industrial development and if SCS-Special Category Status is given to AP, it will also be benefited.
Jayadev mentioned that Section 93 of the AP Reorganisation Act says that the Central government shall take all measures as enumerated in the 13th Schedule for the progress and sustainable development of the successor States within a period of 10 years from the appointed day.
