TDP national president and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has stated that the Union Budget is not in accordance with the aspirations of the people in general and Andhra Pradesh in particular.
In a statement on Friday, Mr. Naidu said the budget “deeply disappointed” the people of the State.
The Centre completely ignored the Special Category Status (SCS) and other issues pertaining to the A.P. Reorganisation Act.
Revenue deficit
The Centre made budgetary allocations to the northeastern States, but Andhra Pradesh, which had been reeling under huge revenue deficit, was conveniently ignored, he observed.
There was no clarity on funds to be released to A.P. towards revenue deficit for the first year (2014). As against ₹16,000 crore, a mere ₹4,000 crore was released. It was worrying that the Centre did not make any mention of the remaining portion, Mr. Naidu said.
A mere ₹13 crore was sanctioned to the tribal university and Central university. Institutions such as IIT and IIIT were ignored. It was sad to note that the Centre had asked the top institutions to go for borrowings to create infrastructure, Mr. Naidu said.
Metro rail projects
Though works on the Capital city, Amaravati, and Polavaram came to a grinding halt four months ago, the Centre had not made any allocations for the same. No allocations were made to the Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada Metro Rail projects, Kadapa steel plant, Dugarajupatnam port etc., he said.
States that had taken steps to control population should have been given incentives. Instead, meagre allocations were made, Mr. Naidu said.
Economic survey
The economic survey said that petrol and diesel rates would come down and consumption would go up, and it would fuel opportunities for development. But the government chose to impose cess on petroleum products. The decision was ridiculous. With a surge in rates of petroleum products, the expenditure on transportation would go up and increase prices of essential commodities, he said, adding, in a nutshell, that the budget had watered down the expectations and aspirations of the people.
