Andhra to invite FM to irrigation projects

Move to convince Chidambaram on need for more funds

The Andhra Pradesh government will invite Union finance minister P Chidambaram to visit some of its ongoing irrigation projects in the state in a bid to convince him on the need to be liberal in meeting huge fund requirement for executing them.

Addressing a press conference after a three-hour review meeting on the status of irrigation projects, state finance minister K Rosaiah said that a formal invitation would be extended to Chidambaram by chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy during his visit to New Delhi in the second week of February.

Rosaiah, a senior minister in the state cabinet, said that the government would not spare any effort in persuading Chidambaram to adopt liberal attitude towards the state.

The Union finance minister had put his foot down when the state finance department sought relaxation of norms on borrowings. Refusing to budge an inch, Chidambaram lectured the state government on how to improve its finances by increasing revenues to meet its commitments to irrigation projects.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act, enacted in haste by the state to utilise the incentives offered by the 12th Finance Commission, is now being cited by the Union finance minister for his refusal to allow any relaxation on fiscal deficit parameters, which alone would help the government go in for more borrowings.

Declaring the state government's resolve to further increase the Plan allocation to the irrigation sector in the 2006-07 budget to Rs 10,000 crore from Rs 6,300 crore, Rosaiah said that he was hopeful of a positive response from the Centre in this regard.

Besides seeking more loans, the state government also wants the Centre to allocate more funds under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) and to increase the grant portion to 50:50 ratio.

In an ambitious programme, the state government has grounded 30 major and 18 medium irrigation projects at an estimated cost of about Rs 46,000 crore. It proposes a budgetary allocation of Rs 49,600 crore over a period of five years to irrigation projects.

Although only time will tell whether Chidambaram accepts the invitation or not, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who is sympathetic towards the efforts of the state government on the irrigation front, has expressed his wish to visit the ongoing irrigation works in the state, according to Rosaiah.