Two Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, as usual, were meted out step-motherly treatment by the Centre in the annual budget introduced by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Both the states together got fresh allocations to the tune of only Rs 974 crore in the Union budget for the Central government institutions.
They include Rs 44 crore for tribal universities in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. In fact, there is no tribal university in Telangana as of now. The Central University of Hyderabad was given Rs 56 crore, while the Central University of Andhra Pradesh was allotted Rs 50 crore.
The Atomic Minerals Directorate of Exploration and Research was allocated Rs 374.35 crore. While Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad was given Rs 300 crore, the Petroleum University in Visakhapatnam was allotted Rs 150 crore.
Forget about the long pending demand of special category status to Andhra Pradesh, there was no mention of revised allocations for Polavaram major irrigation project in the budget.
Similarly, the budget is silent on the demand for Visakhapatnam Railway Zone, special funds for the three capital cities and also promised educational institutions.
