Andhra hopes centre will come to its rescue

Hyderabad, March 7, 2015: Reeling under the impact of bifurcation and tight resources, Andhra Pradesh hopes the central government will come to its rescue in a major way. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, in his address to the joint session of the state legislature on Saturday said Andhra Pradesh required complete cooperation and support of the centre government to achieve its development goals. Stating that unscientific and hurried bifurcation process led to huge financial deficit and hardships, the governor said the provisions made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 were inadequate to compensate the lost opportunities. "During these few months, the state had anticipated a more favourable support from the centre. A more favourable response is still awaited," the governor said, referring to the assurances given to Andhra Pradesh in the act as well as in the speech of former prime minister Manmohan Singh in parliament. He noted that the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission did not provide any special preference to the state despite requests for handholding support. "Our expectations for the state in the Union Budget 2015-16 did not fructify," the governor said, referring to the centre's silence on the commitments to give special category status to the state. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party is a partner in the NDA government at the centre, has already voiced his unhappiness over the raw deal meted out to the state in the budget. "Andhra Pradesh has lost significant resource base after division and is at a disadvantage to compete with its revenue surplus neighbouring states," the governor said without naming Telangana. Narasimhan said to compete with developed cities like Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad of neighbouring states, the centre should give required assistance to stand on a level playing field vis-a-vis its neighbouring states.