YSRC MP Lavu seeks SCS for AP

PNS|Vijayawada

YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP from Narasaraopet constituency Lavu Srikrishnadevarayalu raised his voice for Special Category Status (SCS) to AP in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. During his speech, the MP said, “There is no denying the fact that bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh was done in an unscientific manner as not only we lost our capital Hyderabad which was a major revenue source to Telangana but also inherited higher debts and liabilities.” He deplored that Andhra was left with 45% revenues for 58% population.

MP Krishnadevarayalu said that to overcome these challenges Andhra was promised SCS in the Parliament by the then Prime Minister and it was subsequently approved by the Cabinet but sadly to date that commitment was not honoured. He said, “We believe government is a continuous process, policies may change but promises should never be forgotten and SCS is the right of Andhra people. We will keep raising SCS demand and fight for that. It may make a few people uncomfortable.”

The MP said that the government is looking towards commercially exploiting and ramping up the production of phosphorite deposits and sought that the government should look to Kadapa basin in Andhra Pradesh which has huge deposits. He said that regarding NREGA, Andhra Pradesh was allocated only 14 crore man days, which was a reduction of 9.68 crore man days hence the government should allocate required man days.

Regarding Polavaram project, Krishnadevarayalu sought pending investment clearance for revised cost estimate-2 to the tune of Rs 55,548 crore, release of funds for drinking water component to the tune of Rs 4,068 crore and removal of component-wise restrictions as an expenditure of Rs 2,390 crore was rejected in this system. He further sought the interlinking of Godavari and Penna rivers and sanction of 14 more medical colleges to AP.