The Central Government has announced a ‘Special Assistance’ of Rs 1,000 crore to Andhra Pradesh during the current financial year (2015-16).
This includes Rs 350 crore at Rs 50 crore per district for the development of seven backward districts covering Rayalaseema and North Coastal Region and Rs 350 crore for the new capital of the State and Rs 300 crore for Polavaram irrigation project.
The Union Finance Ministry has decided to continue to support the programmes for the development of backward districts of Andhra Pradesh and provide assistance for the creation of new capital of Andhra Pradesh, including the Raj Bhavan, High Court, Government Secretariat, Legislative Assembly, Legislative Council, and such other essential infrastructure.
Accordingly, the Centre has now announced a further ‘Special Assistance’ of Rs 1,000 crore during the current financial year 2015-16, according to a statement.
Under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 bifurcated Andhra Pradesh and the State of Telangana came into being with effect from June 2, 2014. Factoring the resource availability, the Centre is required to make appropriate grants and also provide adequate benefits and incentives in the form of special assistance to the backward areas of States.
Accordingly, Rs 4,403 crore was released to Andhra Pradesh during 2014-2015. This included Rs 350 crore at Rs 50 crore per district for the development of seven backward districts covering Rayalaseema and North Coastal region, Rs 2,303 core for bridging resource gap, Rs 1,500 crore for the construction of Raj Bhavan and for creating infrastructure facilities in the new capital of the State and Rs 250 crore for Polavaram irrigation project.
The State Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, who has been camping in Delhi for the past two days, had last night announced that the Centre would come out with a major package for the State before the capital city foundation next month.