Unperturbed over the furore about meagre allocation to Polavaram multi-purpose project and grant of special statue to nascent Andhra Pradesh, BJP State president and Visakhapatnam MP says all the commitments in the AP Reorganisation Act and outside of it will be kept by the NDA government.
“I am sure that depending upon the progress of the Polavaram project up to Rs.1,000 crore could be sanctioned by the Union government under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme,” the MP told The Hindu on Sunday.
On the meagre allocation of Rs.100 crore to the project, to be taken up as a national project as per the Act, he says the Rs.250 crore sanctioned last year had not been transferred to the authority and remained unspent.
The Rs.100 crore allocation had to be seen in that light, he said.
The constitution of the Polavaram Project Authority has to be fine-tuned as the Telangana Chief Secretary was made a member before the submerged areas were included by the ordinance in the new State.
The first meeting of the PPA was held last week, the MP said. The PPA would now enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the State government to oversee the implementation of the project. “We want the project to be completed on a fast track,” he said.
The details of special status are to be worked out, Mr. Haribabu said. “Once the status is granted, for projects taken up by the State Central government has to give 90 per cent as grant and 10 per cent as loan instead of the usual practice of 70 per cent as loan and 30 per cent as grant.”
The number of projects and the timeframe had to be worked out, he said cautioning against confusing special status with industrial concessions.
Industrial concessions
Apart from the grant of Rs.50 crore each to seven backward districts, industrial concessions were given by increasing the depreciation from 15 to 30 per cent whereby the tax paid is reduced. Also over and above other States, A.P. would get 15 per cent more as investment allowance, the MP said.
Power projects
Raising the installed power capacity by 6,500 MW and increasing the classification of inland water way project from Kakinada to Puducherry increasing the project cost from Rs.1550 crore to Rs.3,200 crore, not promised in the Act, were firm indications of the commitment of the Union government to the development of Andhra Pradesh.
Once the special status is granted, Centre has to give 90 p.c. as grant and 10 p.c. as loan for projects taken up by the State.
K. Haribabu
BJP State president
