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Southern Zonal Council: Shah chairs meet, key government schemes discussed
Addressing the meeting, the home minister said ancient culture, traditions and languages of the states of Southern India enriched culture and ancient legacy. “India’s development cannot be imagined without the very important contribution of the states of Southern India,” Shah said.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday lauded the efforts of southern Indian states towards the development of the country on various fronts as he chaired the 29th Southern Zonal Council meeting in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh on Sunday.
Addressing the meeting, the home minister said ancient culture, traditions and languages of the states of Southern India enriched culture and ancient legacy. “India’s development cannot be imagined without the very important contribution of the states of Southern India,” he said.
Shah further said the delegates participating in the Southern Zonal Council meeting could feel free to speak in their respective state’s language as arrangements had been made to translate their speeches in their respective languages into all other languages.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who was the vice-chairman and host of the Southern Zonal Council meeting, raised several issues about the state and requested that the Centre keep up its promises made during the bifurcation of the combined Andhra Pradesh in 2014, including those mentioned in the AP Reorganisation Act.
He said even after seven years of bifurcation, the majority of the commitments made by the Centre in the Act and on the house of Parliament remained unfulfilled, and Andhra Pradesh continued to face immense economic hardships and deprivation.
Jagan requested that the Centre should provide full funding for Polavaram multi-purpose project on the Godavari river and see that the project was completed at the earliest. He also requested that the Centre accord Special Category Status to the state as promised in the Parliament during bifurcation.
The chief minister said the total resource gap for the first financial year after state bifurcation was ₹22,948.76 crore. However, the Centre had subsequently introduced a new concept of “Standardized Expenditure” and conveyed that their liability to compensate the state was only to the tune of ₹4,117.89 crores. He sought the central government’s intervention in revisiting this topic to find a suitable solution at the earliest.
He also brought to the notice of the Union home minister to settle the dispute between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on settlement of power bill dues. Telangana state owed an amount of ₹6,112 crores to be paid to AP power generation corporation towards power purchase costs, he pointed out.
Similarly, Jagan said the Tamil Nadu government owed ₹338.48 crores to Andhra Pradesh towards the supply of drinking water from Krishna waters to Chennai in the last 10 years. This includes the cost of infrastructure and operation, and maintenance.
He asked the Centre to resolve the issue at the earliest. On Tamil Nadu government’s opposition to the Paleru irrigation project, he said only 0.6 tmc ft of water would be stored in the project and sought the Central government’s intervention in this regard.
He asked the Union home minister to see that the Centre enhance the borrowing limit of the state given the outbreak of pandemic and any restrictions on borrowing would debilitate the fiscal health of the state.
The chief minister said the inadequate coverage of the state’s beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act has been troubling the state and urged that the State’s data be revisited and corrected. He wanted that a comprehensive view is taken on the poverty levels in the State so that there would be wider coverage of the population of Andhra Pradesh under the Targeted Public Distribution System.
Apart from Jagan Mohan Reddy, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and Puducherry chief minister N Rangaswamy attended the four-hour-long Southern Zonal Council meeting, while Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin and Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan abstained, but sent their state representatives.
Telangana Governor and Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Admiral D K Joshi, Administrator of Lakshadweep Islands Praful Khoda Patel, Telangana Home Minister Mahmood Ali, Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal, Tamil Nadu Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments PK Sekarbabu, Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Inter-State Council Secretariat Secretary Anuradha Prasad and other top officials are attending.
Among 26 items listed in the agenda, the meeting discussed the implementation of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mission, speedy investigation of cases of sexual offence/rape against women and children, strengthening of the National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP), states’ support for effective implementation of NIKSHAY Poshan Yojana (NPY) under Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme.
