The Central government has so far given ₹11,182 crore for the irrigation component of the Polavaram project since the year 2014 and ₹2,500 crore for infrastructure creation in Amaravati between 2014 and 2017, according to Union Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation Rao Inderjit Singh’s written reply to questions asked by YSRCP member V. Vijaya Sai Reddy in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Mr. Vijaya Sai Reddy stated in a press release that Mr. Singh’s answers proved the fact that the Centre had not fulfilled its commitments to the Polavaram project, whose revised cost was pegged at ₹55,657 crore, as well as for the development of Amaravati.
Aid for backward districts
Mr. Singh also replied that the Centre had so far released a grant of ₹1,750 crore for the development of backward districts in the last eight years and ₹3,979 crore between 2014 and 2017 for filling the resource gap created by bifurcation.
The Union Minister further replied that a sum of ₹10,632 crore was released for the implementation of 88 Centrally-Sponsored Schemes (CSS) between April 2018 and March 2019.
The Central government released ₹11,112 crore for 84 CSS between April 2019 and March 2020, ₹12,904 crore for 79 CSS between April 2020 and March 2021, and ₹1,794 crore for 31 CSS between April 2021 and July 2021.
‘No CAT Bench in Vizag’
Meanwhile, Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (PMO), Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, clarified that there was no proposal for the establishment of a Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in Visakhapatnam.
Replying to a question by Mr. Vijaya Sai Reddy, the Union Minister said that a CAT Bench was supposed to be located on the High Court premises as per a judgment of the Supreme Court. It was for the Central government to exercise discretion thereof on the basis of various factors, subject to the apex court’s verdict, he said.
Mr. Vijaya Sai Reddy asked whether there was a proposal for setting up the Bench in view of the presence of thousands of retired employees of the Central government in the Port City.
