Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on his return from Davos, met the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday morning in New Delhi seeking priority to AP in the forthcoming Union budget, to be presented in the Parliament on February 1, by her.
Chandrababu discussed various financial issues related to the state with her. His meeting with her gained prominence after the Center announcement of the Rs 11,500 crore package for the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. He expressed his gratitude for the cooperation of the Central Finance Department in this regard.
Regarding the Polavaram project, some of the previously revised estimates are still pending, but some estimates have been approved by the Center. The Center has to approve them after the approval of the Jal Shakti Ministry. The Center has to accept the revised estimates of about Rs 45,000 crore.
However, the Center has released some funds in installments. Funds have been released for the diaphragm wall and R&R package. Since the construction of Polavaram has just started in full, Chandrababu mentioned the issues related to where the funds are pending with the Union Minister.
He said to be discussed on providing funds for the Capital Amaravati. It may be recalled that the Center has allocated Rs 15,000 crore in the last budget for the capital of AP, Amaravati. Those funds are yet to be released. Some process has been done in this regard. The issues related to it have to be fully finalized.
In the upcoming budget, there is a need to allocate budget from various departments to Amaravati. The center has decided to build several institutions related to the center in Amaravati. In relation to all of them, the center has to give some financial package. CM Chandrababu seeks Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to mention them in her upcoming budget.
Chandrababu Naidu directly reached New Delhi last night from Davos and he is also meeting a couple of other ministers, including Shivraj Singh Chouhan and a courtesy meeting with the former President Ramnath Kovind.
