Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday made a strong pitch before the 14 Finance Commission for liberal grants that include Rs. 1.02 lakh crore for building the new capital and a special grant-in-aid of Rs. 41,500 crore to undo the damage done due to the ‘unscientific bifurcation’.
“It took 13.50 lakh crore to develop Hyderabad into what it is today, while the bifurcation let us down and gave a surplus budget to Telangana,” he said while impressing upon the Commission to be considerate while making grants to the State.
The bifurcation-eve promises showered by the UPA government on the State assumed a significant place in the presentation made by Mr. Naidu to the Commission here on Friday.
It was for the first time that the Finance Commission met when a State had been divided. Mr. Naidu reminded the Commission headed by its Chairman Y.V. Reddy of the three major promises mentioned in the A.P. Reorganisation Bill, viz., according special status to the new State, special package to the backward Rayalaseema and Northern Andhra districts and the special incentives to the industry. These, he said, would hold the key to the development of the State, which is all set to start its journey ‘from the scratch’.
At the media conference later, he tried to pacify the aggrieved districts by indicating that though Vijayawada had been made the capital, development would be distributed equitably among all districts. “As district is taken as a unit, the Gross District Domestic Product (GDDP) of all the 13 districts will be the same,” he said.
Ministers Yanamala Ramakrishnudu (Finance), B. Gopalakrishna Reddy (Environment and Forest), R. Kishore Babu (Social Welfare), Kamineni Srinivas (Health) and top State officials were among the participants.
