Telangana CM meets Jaitley, demands special status for state

New Delhi, Oct 11:

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley demanding special status for the newly carved out state. Briefing reporters after the meeting, senior TRS leader and party deputy floor leader in the Lok Sabha B Vinod Kumar said, the issue of backwardness of Telangana was raised with the finance minister to justify their demand for the Special Status.

"Of the 10 districts in Telangana, eight were declared as backward by the Planning Commission. Moreover, the Special Status is vital to our state, as has been newly formed," he said. The finance minister, Kumar said, had queried about the need for a Special Status for Telangana, as revenue-generating Hyderabad was part of the newly created state.

"We told him that Hyderabad was not getting the revenue as it is being projected. Oil companies and AP Beverages Corporation in undivided Andhra Pradesh used to pay taxes in Hyderabad. Now, with the state divided these companies invariably have to pay taxes in both the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Thereby, Hyderabad, which was projected as collecting more taxes is not getting the taxes as it was projected earlier," Kumar stated. He also said that the Telangana Chief Minister held detailed discussions about devolution of funds and tax incentives for the state.

PTI