AP To Plunge Into Deep Financial Crisis: Governor

Blaming the criteria adopted for the division of the State, Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan said that the residuary State was set to plunge into a deep financial crisis.

Addressing both the Houses of the Andhra Pradesh Legislature, the Governor said that the residuary State had to forego major economic assets and inherited huge liabilities, without having the wherewithal to service the debts.

Thus, he said Andhra Pradesh is reeling under severe financial strain.

"The process of bifurcation, coupled with the frittering away of resources and malgovernance, have deeply impacted the State and its finances which are in disarray. United Andhra Pradesh had been a revenue surplus State as far as non-plan revenue was concerned. Unfortunately, the division made the residuary State a revenue deficit State on non-plan account by more than Rs 15,000 crores. The liability on account of salaries and pensions has jumped from 52% to 73% of the State's own revenue, purely on account of the division," he said.

The Governor said that the government had decided to bring out white papers on key sectors. The white papers will critically examine the status and performance under important social and economic parameters pertaining to the HRD, infrastructure and industry, irrigation and agriculture, power and resource mobilisation sectors.

He said that the reconstruction of Andhra Pradesh was possible only with continued and liberal financial and moral support of the Government of India, till a level playing field was achieved.

Narasimhan said that the Centre would be requested to provide a special grant of over Rs 15,000 crores in the upcoming budget for the period of June 2014 to March 2015 to bridge the non-plan deficit.

The Centre should also hasten the process of according the status of Special Category State to Andhra Pradesh, he said. A special development package should also be approved by the Centre.

In addition, a special grant of over Rs 8,600 crores would also be sought as Additional Central Assistance from the Centre to finance critical development projects that are currently under execution.

The Governor said that the government was working out strategies to institutionalise corruption-free and good governance practices so that the ideology of less government and more governance would soon be a reality.

He added that a new model of governance would be worked out where the focus would be on decentralisation and on developing multiple business hubs. Investments would be attracted and different cities would be developed as education, knowledge, IT, industrial and logistics hubs, while giving equal importance to the manufacturing sector.

Narasimhan said that the government had embarked upon a 100-day development agenda to put the administration back on track for realising the vision. The vision 2020 documents would be re-drafted.

A special development plan was being worked out for the backward regions of Rayalaseema and north coastal districts, keeping in view their natural resource bases.

The Governor said that the government had appointed a committee to implement the farm loan waiver promise. The report of the committee would facilitate the announcement of a package to mitigate the distress and loan burden of the farmers.

He said that the government was committed to providing quality power for 9 hours a day free of cost to the farming community.

He said that the government would also ensure that Andhra Pradesh got a fair share of the smart cities announced by the Central Government.

"Our plan is to develop 3 mega cities and 12 other cities," he said.

Narasimhan also listed out various welfare schemes proposed to be implemented by the government.

"We will strive to put in place a government that provides all facilities and resources to the common man, takes immediate measures to control price rise, instills confidence among them through transparent, accountable and corruption-free governance," he said. (INN)