Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated that the NDA government would honour all assurances made to Andhra Pradesh at the time of bifurcation.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu attended the first meeting of NITI Aayog held at the Prime Minister's residence on Sunday.
Speaking to media persons at the AP Bhavan later, Naidu informed that due to a lack of time he could not place a written document on NITI Aayog, and that a detailed paper would be furnished in two to three days.
In the meeting, the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers of different states had detailed discussions on how to share knowledge and resources, and how to take forward the cooperative federalism.
The discussions were held on the Government of India programs including Swachh Bharath, Make In India and Jandhan Yojana, and the various state government programs including Smart Villages, Smart Wards, 7 missions, 5 grids and 5 campaigns.
Suggestions were given on how to integrate the central and state governments' prioritized schemes, on constituting committees and sub-committees, and on keeping the Chief Ministers as members if necessary, informed the Chief Minister.
The issues of inter-state river linkages also come up for discussion in the meeting, and he had insisted on the necessity of linkage of the rivers Krishna and Godavari, he said.
"As anticipated before the bifurcation of the state about the revenue deficit, the state of Andhra Pradesh has a 35% deficit, faced a drastic Hudhud cyclone and is suffering from low income generation. This issue was raised during the meeting, and I impressed upon the central government the need to assist the state government because it had assured during the state's bifurcation that it would support the depleted residuary state to give it a level playing ground," the Chief Minister said.
He also insisted that the central government provide 13 institutions, special status to the state, a special package and special zones, and funds for the construction of a new capital as assured by the government at the time of the bifurcation bill.
The residuary state of Andhra Pradesh and the state of Telangana were getting revenues under VAT and other resources in the ratio of 52:48 against the population ratio of 59:41.3, he said.
"We have focused on the overall development and growth of the state with 7 missions, 5 grids and 5 campaign modes, and could achieve 7% growth and 11.32% growth in agriculture though the rainfall deficit was 36%," he informed.
"To overcome the revenue deficit, more industries need to be established, else the state will lag behind," the Chief Minister said.
Replying to a query, he said that the issue of increasing the number of assembly seats from 175 to 225 would be taken up to the central government level because it was assured in the AP Reorganization Act.
He also opined that the NITI Aayog would yield good results because it was following good practices, and since an attempt was being made to integrate the ideas and schemes of the state governments, too.
After the press conference, he met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and discussed the financial issues of the state, and the assurances given at the time of bifurcation.
After the meeting, Jaitley briefed the media and said that their government was committed to the assurances given in the APR Act, and that it would give more than what it had assured.
The amount which was announced a couple of days back was only the beginning of meeting its commitment, he said. (INN)