The much-hyped Special Financial Package for Andhra Pradesh as announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitely has turned out to be a big farce.
The only positives of the package is 100 per cent funding of Polavaram project, which the Centre has estimated to be around Rs 16,000 crore as per its estimates, as against the actual estimates of Rs 28,000 crore by the AP government. So, there is no clarity as to what the Centre would do if there is a cost-overrun. Besides, the Centre has agreed to bear the revenue deficit, which was estimated to be around Rs 22,000 crore.
However, both the announcements are not special in the sense that they were already promised under the AP Reorganisation Act. The actual special package is only with regard to reimbursement of loans taken for externally aided projects, which would be around Rs 2,000 crore per year.
What is more ridiculous is the Central assistance promised for construction of Amaravati, the state capital. The Centre has announced only Rs 3,500 crore, of which Rs.2,500 crore has already been paid and the remaining Rs.1,000 crore would be paid in due course. This is just peanuts, compared to the requirement of nearly Rs 5 lakh crore over a period of 10-12 years.
And the package for backward areas, too, is nothing. An amount of Rs.1,050 crore has been disbursed as special package for backward areas and a further amount of Rs.1,050 crore would be paid in the coming years, the Centre said.
Are Seemandhra people happy?
