The Centre has released Rs 1,269 crore to Andhra Pradesh in the last few days, PTI reported on Saturday, even as the Telugu Desam Party protested against its ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party, for allotting very little to the state in the Union Budget.
On Thursday, bus services in the state were affected and schools remained closed after the Communist Party of India (Marxist) called a statewide strike in protest against the Budget. The YSR Congress, the Congress and local parties had backed the bandh call.
“The release [of Rs 417.44 crore] is towards the amount already utilised by the state against the irrigation component [of the Polavaram multipurpose project] after April 1, 2014,” Union Water Resources Ministry’s Senior Joint Commissioner RPS Verma said in an order.
The money that the Centre released was a portion of the Rs 3,217.63 crore that Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu had demanded in a memorandum submitted to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in January. This is the money that the state government has already spent on the project.
Following the recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission, the government also released Rs 369.16 crore on Friday night under a post-devolution revenue deficit grant.
The Centre also gave Rs 253.74 crore “basic grant” to urban local bodies, Rs 196.92 crore for the anganwadi services scheme and the supplementary nutrition programme, and Rs 31.76 crore under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Programme.
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