Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy will reiterate the State’s plea to the Planning Commission in New Delhi on Thursday to take up both Polavaram and Pranahita-Chevella as national projects and sanction funds accordingly.
If these two projects are accorded national status, the money spent on them by the State Government, nearly Rs 7,000 crore, will be reimbursed.
Mr. Reddy is leaving on Thursday on day’s visit to Delhi to hold discussions with the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and his team to seek approval for the plan expenditure of Rs. 59,422 crore proposed in the 2013-14 annual budget of Rs. 1.61 lakh crore presented in the Assembly earlier this year.
Sources said the Chief Minister would highlight the need to take up Polavaram and Pranahita-Chevella as national projects to maintain regional balance and develop backward areas under the Prime Minister’s package.
He would impress upon the Commission that the cost of Polavaram and Pranahita-Chevella-- Rs 16,010 crore and Rs 38, 500 crore respectively--was so huge that it would be an additional burden on the State which was already implementing various welfare schemes for the poor.
Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayan Reddy, who will accompany the Chief Minister, told this correspondent that the State Government was expecting the Planning Commission to grant an extra sum of Rs. 2,000-3,000 crore over and above the plan outlay, based on its track record of sound financial management. The fiscal deficit was well within the prescribed limit of 3.5 per cent of GSDP under the Financial Responsibility & Budget Management Act.
