New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence, on Tuesday and discussed various issues of state interest, including details of the Polavaram Project.
According to a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), “The Chief Minister submitted a memorandum on Polavaram and urged him to consider the second revised cost estimate as per the 2017-18 index and pass the Rs 55,656 crore expenditure and give necessary instructions to the Finance and Jal Shakti Departments accordingly.”
The chief minister also urged the Centre to reimburse the land acquisition and relief and rehabilitation packages as per the Land Acquisition Act 2013.
The number of families to be evacuated has risen considerably in 2017-18 as compared to 2005-06 from 44,574 to 1,06,006 families, by which the Land Acquisition (LA) and Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) cost have spiked up.
“An amount of Rs 1,779 crore is still pending towards reimbursement of Polavaram works along with December 2018 Bills. Any delay will further escalate the cost and the national project, which is the lifeline should be expedited,” he told the Home Minister.
The statement said Reddy also discussed having three capitals for Andhra Pradesh.
The Chief Minister has urged the Home Minister to issue a notification for the decentralisation of administration by setting up Executive Capital at Visakhapatnam, Legislative Capital at Amaravati and Judicial Capital at Kurnool and reminded him that the 2019 manifesto of the BJP also has a mention of making Kurnool as Judicial Capital.
Reddy also appreciated Shah’s efforts in battling the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
He apprised the Home Minister about the effective steps taken during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even during the difficult situation, the welfare schemes were not stopped.
The State machinery is in full preparedness as per the Central guidelines in the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine as per the priority norms set and the vital cold storage links are being established.
Reddy reiterated that Special Category Status (SCS) is important for development of the state.