Andhra special status: NDA committed to promises, says Purandeswari

Vijayawada, Nov 2: Some parties were creating misconceptions among people on the issue of special status to Andhra Pradesh despite the Prime Minister having promised to implement all provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, BJP Mahila Morcha in-charge D Purandeswari today said.

"The Prime Minister, while laying the foundation stone of Andhra Pradesh's new capital city Amaravati, had said the government is committed to implement the AP Reorganisation Act in toto, but the Opposition parties were still leading a protest in the state to create misconceptions among the people over the special status issue," the former Union minister told reporters here.

"The granting of special status to Andhra Pradesh has been facing some technical issues, and in the meantime the Union government has been allocating additional funds for the state and also sanctioned about 12 national institutions for the benefit of AP," she said.

In the last 16 months, the Centre allocated more than Rs 7,500 crore for the state, she said. The Centre also promised to take up Polavaram irrigation project on its own and not put any financial burden on the state.

The Centre also agreed to reimburse Rs 1,950 crore spent by the state on the project, she pointed out. She asked the AP government to submit a report to the Centre on the funds released by it and the expenditure made.

On returning of awards by authors and artistes to the government with a dissent on the freedom of expression, she said by returning the awards, they themselves were dishonouring their status.

PTI