CM Urges Centre To Release Pending Grants To State

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy today urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to immediately release the pending grant of Rs 1,800 crore, for the period from 2020 to 2024, to the backward districts of Telangana as per the AP Reorganization Act.

Reddy reminded the minister that the Centre had agreed to release a grant of Rs 450 crore to nine districts every year under the Act.

The Chief Minister also apprised the Union Minister of the expenses incurred for the management of the High Court, Raj Bhavan, Lokayukta, State Human Rights Commission, Judicial Academy and other public institutions in Hyderabad by the State government after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

He said that the State government had spent Rs 703.43 crore for the management of the respective institutions by the completion of the division of the institutions. He told Sitharaman that Andhra Pradesh owed Rs 408.49 crore to Telangana as its share of that, and that the Union Home Ministry had written a letter to AP to pay the amount, but that Andhra Pradesh had not cleared the due till date.

The Chief Minister pleaded with the Union minister to issue orders to Andhra Pradesh to pay the dues with interest.

Reddy also brought to the notice of Sitharaman the orders issued unilaterally by the Union government for the recovery of Rs 2,547.07 crore from Telangana for the loans borrowed as foreign financial assistance for the projects taken up in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.

The CM said that the Telangana government had already registered a strong protest in this regard, but that the Centre did not accept the plea to relieve Telangana from the payment burden, and requested the Union Minister to review the matter again and take a proper decision.

The Chief Minister also reminded the Union Finance Minister that the Union government had allocated all the funds related to Centrally Sponsored Schemes only to Andhra Pradesh in 2014-15.

Reddy told her that out of that amount Rs 495.20 crore needed to be transferred from AP to Telangana on the basis of population in the Reorganization Act. He appealed to her to intervene in the matter and have the funds released to Telangana.