Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday, December 28, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss several state issues and reiterated the request to release pending funds for the Polavaram irrigation project. In the nearly 50-minute-long meeting held at PM Modi's residence at Lok Kalyan Marg in Delhi, Jagan underlined that his state has already spent about Rs 2,900 crore on the Polavaram project so far which the Union government has not yet reimbursed.
He said his government is facing a resource crunch and requested the Union government to provide Rs 10,000 crore funds on an ad hoc basis for early completion of the project, official sources said. The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister also sought early approval of the revised cost estimate of the Polavaram project pegged at Rs 55,548.87 crore.
Besides this, PTI sources said he discussed the issues related to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act and demanded the inclusion of more beneficiaries in the southern state under the National Food Security Act, nod for 12 more medical colleges and allocation of mine ore and beach sand mineral areas to the state-run Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC).
Jagan also requested PM Modi to resolve pending bifurcation issues. He said that Andhra Pradesh was facing difficulties due to restrictions placed on borrowings by the Union Finance Ministry. He requested the Prime Minister to do away with the restrictions and said that the state would suffer a lot financially if they continued. The Chief Minister also requested PM Modi to take immediate steps to ensure that the Telangana government pays its dues of Rs 6,886 crores outstanding from the Telangana power distribution companies immediately to the Andhra Pradesh power generation corporation, “which is in dire straits.”
He also appealed to the Prime Minister to allot mines to meet the iron ore requirement of the steel plant being built at Kadapa. He also asked the Prime Minister to extend cooperation to the proposed 76.9 km long metro rail project in Visakhapatnam for which the detailed project report has been submitted, besides fulfilling the longstanding demand of granting special category status to the state.
Later, Jagan also met Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav. He is scheduled to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah later in the evening. The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister has met Modi several times during the year, reiterating the above-mentioned demands.