The State government has made a strong pitch with the Central government to take steps for the fulfilment of assurances given to Telangana in the AP Reorganisation Act 2014.
The Centre has been requested to release pending dues pertaining to various departments in addition to liberally assisting Telangana in strengthening core sectors like Health and Education. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and his deputy Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka submitted a list of issues pending with the Centre to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at New Delhi.
The Chief Minister and Mr. Vikramarka, who arrived in the national capital on Tuesday afternoon, called on Mr. Modi for the first time after assuming charge and explained to him the need to protect the interests of Telangana, the formation of which was based on three major issues — water, jobs and funds. Briefing reporters later, Mr. Vikramarka said the Prime Minister was briefed about how the previous BRS government dilly-dallied in taking up the fulfilment of assurances given in the Reorganisation Act with the Centre.
Mr. Modi was requested to ensure expeditious implementation of promises like setting up of steel plant at Bayyaram, the Indian Institute of Management, rail coach factory and the promised IT Investment Region. The State had reiterated its request for declaring the Palamuru Rangareddy lift irrigation project as a national project in line with the assurance given at the time of bifurcation of the erstwhile united State Andhra Pradesh.
In addition to pending issues like setting up a Sainik school and the upgradation of 14 major roads as national highways, the Chief Minister and Mr. Vikramarka requested the Prime Minister to take steps to expeditiously release the backward regions grant fund which was pending release for the past four years.
Alleging that the BRS government indulged in financial mismanagement with indiscriminate borrowings, he said the Centre’s cooperation was sought in rectifying the situation by liberally helping Telangana. “We sought the Centre’s cooperation in strengthening the health and education sectors,” he said.
Mr. Vikramarka said the Prime Minister responded positively to the requests assuring that he would examine the issues put forth by the State and extend the Centre’s support accordingly. “We gave a detailed account of the State’s financial situation in writing to the Prime Minister,” he said in response to a query.
