(Image source from: Twitter.com/TelanganaCMO)
Revanth Reddy asks Amit Shah for Dues in Telangana:- Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had a busy day in Delhi on Thursday, meeting key Union Ministers Amit Shah, Hardeep Singh Puri and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, and discussing pertinent state issues with them. During his meeting with Union Home Minister Shah, the chief minister raised the issue of the shortage of IPS officers allocated during the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
Stating that Telangana was allocated only 76 officers at the time of bifurcation, he requested Shah to augment the cadre strength by saying that the state needs at least 29 additional IPS officers to meet the administrative demands. Shah assured the allocation of a greater number of IPS officers from the upcoming 2024 batch.
Revanth also sought Shah’s cooperation in the bifurcation of assets between AP and Telangana, urging the Union home minister to ensure that AP fulfils its financial obligations, particularly with regard to the use of shared assets.
Revanth pointed out discrepancies related to institutions listed in the 10th Schedule of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 and brought to the attention of Shah the claims made by AP on assets not explicitly mentioned in the Act. After bifurcation, residuary AP used the Raj Bhavan, High Court building, Lokayukta and SHRC buildings. For this, AP has to pay Rs 408 crore to Telangana, Revanth said, and asked Shah to prevail upon AP and see that these amounts were paid to TS.He also sought Rs 88 crore for strengthening the Anti Narcotics Bureau and Rs 90 crore for the Cyber Security Bureau.
During discussions with Puri, the chief minister presented the proposed changes to the alignment of the Airport Metro. He requested Puri to consider taking up the revised Metro Rail jointly by the Centre and the state. The chief minister said that BHEL to LB Nagar Metro (26 km, estimated cost of Rs 9,100 crore) and Raidurg to Airport Metro (32 km, estimated cost of Rs 6,250 crore) should be revised.
The chief minister sought the Urban Affairs Ministry to support the Musi Riverfront project. He also informed the union minister that the state government proposed to take up the Indiramma housing scheme and sought funds from the PM Awas Yojana.
Revanth, accompanied by state Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, also met the Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. He requested Shekhawat to accord national project status to the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS), which is intended to utilise 90 tmcft of Krishna waters to provide irrigation to 12.30 lakh acres and drinking water to 1,226 villages as well as Hyderabad and six districts.
However, the union minister informed that at present, there was no scheme with the Centre to accord national project status. The Centre has not granted national project status to any project since 2014, he said.
“The Union minister, however, assured to provide 60% of funds for PRLIS from some other scheme. Even if the Centre accords national project status, the state would have to bear 40% of the cost of the project and the Centre will provide 60% funds. The state has already spent 40% of the project cost. The union minister assured that the remaining 60% of funds will be given from some other scheme,” Uttam told reporters in Delhi.
