Andhra Pradesh government criticised for failing to pressurise Centre

Vijayawada: Member of Legislative Council (MLC) K Lakshmana Rao lamented that there was no mention of Special Category Status (SCS) in the Governor’s last address to the joint session of Assembly and the Council on the first day of the four-day Vote on Account session. The 44th session of AP Assembly commenced on Monday and the Governor S Abdul Nazeer addressed the joint session of Assembly and Council members. While participating in the discussion on Motion of Thanks to the Governor, Lakshmana Rao said there was no mention of SCS in the budget speech.

Lakshmana Rao said the successive governments, both the TDP and the YSRCP, had failed to put pressure on the Union government to get the SCS and implementation of the assurances given in AP Reorganisation Act. He said the governments has not even convened all-party meeting and took the delegation to Delhi to put pressure on the Union government on SCS.

The MLC said Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) suggested setting up of mega steel plant in Kadapa but so far no progress has been made in this regard. Jindal company came up with idea of constructing a small steel plant. He said mega port should be constructed at Dugarajapatnam as per the AP Reorganisation Act and no progress made on it. He said construction of big port is not possible at Dugarajapatnam because of its proximity to Pulicat lake and SHAR centre. He said the Central government has to construct the big port near Ramayyapatnam of Prakasam district but it did not build. Lakshmana Rao said the state government has taken initiative for construction of small port in Ramayyapatnam. He said there is no special railway zone for AP.

Chairman of the Legislative Council Koyya Moshen Raju chaired the council meeting.

Former MP and Legislative Council member P Ravindrababu said both TDP and YSRCP governments tried for the SCS but the Central government had not accorded it. He asked the Council members to give suggestions to get the SCS. He said southern states are suffering loss due to the policies of the BJP government at the Centre.