Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has made a strong pitch with the NITI Aayog for strengthening cooperative federalism as a guiding principle for effective governance.
The issue figured during a meeting of NITI Aayog representatives with the Chief Minister on Tuesday. The Chief Minister wanted fair allocation of Central funds and resources to the State for various developmental projects. He requested the apex policy think tank of the Central government to consider increase in allocation to State by the XVI Finance Commission with special focus on the development of infrastructure in Health and Education sectors.
Mr. Revanth Reddy reminded the NITI Aayog officials about the release of ₹1,800 crore under the Backward Regions Grant Fund in accordance with Section 94(2) of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 pending since few years. Both the NITI Aayog and the State government expressed their commitment to working in tandem to address the unique challenges and opportunities facing the State.
The meeting featured elaborate and in-depth discussion on key developmental issues, policy initiatives and collaborative strategies envisaging fostering of overall progress of the State. The Chief Minister highlighted the State’s developmental priorities and key areas that required special attention. The NITI Ayog delegation led by its vice-chairman Suman Kumar Bery and member V.K. Saraswat actively engaged in the deliberations to understand the specific needs of the State and explore avenues for ensuring its comprehensive development.
One of the key issues discussed during the meeting was the importance of sharing innovative governance practices and successful models. The Apex policy making body encouraged the State to showcase and adopt practices that had demonstrative effect in addressing the local challenges. Another key area that figured in the discussions was skill development and the meeting underscored the need for recognising the importance of building skills among youth pursuing graduation courses in engineering colleges with special focus on artificial intelligence, cyber security and data sciences.
The participants discussed about the importance of harnessing solar energy and the Chief Minister requested the Central government’s support in this direction.
Mr. Revanth Reddy favoured the establishment of State Institution for Transformation under the State Support Mission, a Central Scheme aimed at strengthening the capacities of the States. The Chief Minister requested technical assistance for development of Musi river on the lines of national and international best practices like Sabarmati River Front and Namami Gange project through a public private partnership model. The project would include establishment of sewage treatment plants across the Musi river front. This was in addition to the Centre’s collaboration in preparing a road map for developing Hyderabad as a pollution free urban growth hub.
The Government said in a press release that the meeting between the Chief Minister and NITI Aayog representatives exemplified the spirit of cooperative federalism and shared commitment to advancing the welfare and prosperity of the people. The NITI Aayog requested the State to participate in its governing council meetings for better collaboration and achieving the shared vision.
Responding to this, the Chief Minister assured constructive support and cooperation of the State for all initiatives of the NITI Aayog.
