The Centre has implemented most provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Act and the rest are at various stages of execution, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed Parliament on Monday.
The minister also said the central government has released a total Rs 6,764 crore funds for the Polavaram irrigation project, while Rs 2,500 crore central aid for building a new state capital city at Amaravati.
The minister said in a written reply to a query raised by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) member Srinivas Kesineni in the Lok Sabha.
Her response comes amid demand by both the previous TDP and the incumbent YSRCP governments to the Centre to fulfil all commitments made under the Act to the state, which is reeling under a huge debt burden.
"A large number of provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Act, 2014 have been implemented. The remaining provisions ... are at various stages of implementation," Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Lower House.
She further said that the some of the provisions relating to setting up of infrastructure projects and educational institutions have long gestation period for which a time of 10 years has been prescribed in the Act.
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Sharing the details of central funds released to the state, the minister said a total Rs 6,764.70 crore has been released to the state for construction of the mega Polavaram irrigation project.
As per the data placed before the Lok Sabha, the centre has provided funds every year from 2014-15 till 2018-19 fiscal. However, the funds for building the capital city were given during the first three years amounting Rs 2,500 crore.
Even the resource gap to the tune of Rs 3,979.50 crore was given to the state for the first three years till 2016-17, the data showed.
With regard to airport facility in the state, the minister said that in-principle nod has been given for development of a greenfield airport at Bhogapuram in Vizianagram district in view of land constraints at the existing civil enclave at Visakhapatnam.
She said the government has awarded expansion of linear expansion of integrated passenger terminal building for 1,050 peak hours capacity at the existing Vishakhapatnam civil enclave. Further, the airports at Vijayawada and Tirupati have been declared as international airports.
With regard to rapid rail and road connectivity from the new capital to Hyderabad and other major cities of Telangana, the minister said the new line of rail project of Vijyawada-Guntur via Amaravati was included in Pink Book of 2017-18 subject to requisite approvals. The Pink Book refers to official register of the railways that provides details of the fund allocations for projects.
"Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Errupalem-Nambur via Amaravati single new line is under inter-ministerial consultation," she said.
Also, the DPRs for metro rail project in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada in line with Metro Rail Policy 2017 are awaited from the Andhra Pradesh government, she added.
The minister further said that the proposal for setting up of AIIMS at Mangalagiri in Andhra Pradesh has been approved and the first batch of MBBS course of 50 students has started from the 2018-19 session from a temporary campus.
With regard to setting up of steel plants, the minister said the proposed configuration was prima facie not found feasible and financially viable in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
However, the steel ministry has formed a joint task force to consider the feasibility issues and to prepare a road map for setting up of steel plants in these two states, she added.