The YSRCP government in Andhra Pradesh has urged the Centre to release around Rs 47,000 crore for the construction of a capital city for the state.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi on Thursday, YSRCP Parliamentary party leader V Vijayasai Reddy said, "Under the capital development grant, the estimated cost of construction for the capital is over Rs 49,000 crore. So far, the Centre has sanctioned around Rs 2,500 crore. Therefore, we requested the union government to release the remaining amount, which is Rs 47,424 crore."
However, when asked about the location of the capital city, he evaded the question. The state has recently passed a Bill in the Assembly to decentralise the capital -- setting up an executive capital in Visakhapatnam, legislative one in Amaravati and a judicial capital in Kurnool.
Vijayasai Reddy had represented the Andhra Pradesh government's case at an all-party meeting called by the Centre ahead of the Budget session.
The YSRCP leader said that the Centre also had to release over Rs 23,000 crore for the development of backward districts as laid out in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. He said that so far, only Rs 1,000 crore had been sanctioned.
The state government also sought a little over Rs 3,000 crore towards pending bills of the Polavaram irrigation project, Vijayasai Reddy said, adding that revised cost estimates had already been submitted to the Centre.
Stating that funding the Dugarajapatnam port had been found financially unviable by the Centre, the YSRCP leader requested that a port be set up at Ramayapatnam. The issue of the steel plant at Kadapa was also raised.
Earlier this week, the state government had dispatched a statutory resolution seeking abolition of the Legislative Council, for follow-up action, to the Union Government.
The AP Legislative Assembly passed the statutory resolution after the Jagan Mohan Reddy government failed to get two crucial Bills on its plans to have three capitals for the state cleared by the Upper House last week, as the TDP has a majority in the Council.
The Union Cabinet has to first take up the matter and decide whether or not to go ahead with the Council abolition as sought by the Andhra Pradesh government.
If the Cabinet agrees, the issue will come up before Parliament for necessary enactment, as per procedure.