Committed to Andhra Pradesh special package

Finance Minister says Centre committed to giving special package to Andhra Pradesh, says proposal of giving assistance to the state based on the 90:10 formula for 5 years already with the state govt.

Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that Centre is committed to giving Andhra Pradesh financial assistance equivalent to a special category state. He said, for Andhra Pradesh, the centre is committed to give 90 per cent of the funds, equivalent to special category states, through other means like external agencies.

On Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s demand for fulfilling the promise of giving the state a special status, Jaitley said such a category did exist when the state was bifurcated in 2014.

For special category status, Centre meets 90 per cent of the funds required in a centrally sponsored scheme as against 60 per cent in case of normal category states. The remaining funds are provided by the state governments.

After fulfilling the demand of special status, it now remains to seen if the dispute will settle down or not.