Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced financial support and several infrastructure projects for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar as part of the Union Budget for financial year 2024-’25.
For Bihar, Sitharaman announced the Union government’s support for the development of the Patna-Purnea expressway, Buxar-Bhagalpur highway, improved road connectivity in Bodhgaya-Rajgir-Vaishali-Darbhanga and an additional two-lane bridge over river Ganga in Buxar at the cost of Rs 26,000 crore.
The finance minister also announced that an industrial node will be developed at Bihar’s Gaya on the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor. “It will catalyse the development of the eastern region,” she said.
Sitharaman also proposed to set up airports, medical colleges and sports infrastructure in the state.
Further, the finance minister said that the Vishnupad temple in Gaya and the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya will be supported and transformed into world-class heritage sites on the lines of Varanasi’s Kashi Vishwanath Corridor. Nalanda will be developed as a tourist centre, she announced.
Having fallen short of the majority mark in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government at the Centre with the help of Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal (United) and the Andhra Pradesh’s Telugu Desam Party, among other members of its National Democratic Alliance.
For Andhra Pradesh, Sitharaman said that the Centre will make efforts to fulfil the commitments in the 2014 Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. The Act paved the way for the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh and the formation of Telangana in 2014.
“Recognising the state’s [Andhra Pradesh’s] need for a capital [city], we will facilitate special financial support through multilateral agencies,” Sitharaman said.
Funds amounting to Rs 15,000 crore will be arranged in the current financial year 2024-’25 for this purpose, she added.
Sitharaman also said that the Centre is committed to help complete the Pollavaram irrigation project. This has been a major demand of Andhra Pradesh’s ruling Telugu Desam Party.
The announcements for the two states were part of a plan titled “Purvodaya” for the “all round development” of the eastern states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, Sitharaman said.
Sitharaman’s announcement also came against the backdrop of the BJP forming a government in Odisha on its own in June for the first time, ending the 24-year rule of the Biju Janata Dal.
Assembly elections in Jharkhand are expected to be held later this year.
On Monday, the Centre said that no case was made out to grant special status to Bihar, noting that the demand was considered and rejected in 2012.
Bihar has been demanding special status ever since mineral-rich Jharkhand was carved out of the state in 2000. Nitish Kumar, who heads the Janata Dal (United), has been at the forefront of demanding Bihar’s inclusion in the category.
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