Tirumala: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu offers prayer at the Venkateswara temple, in Tirumala, Thursday, June 13, 2024. (Photo: PTI)
On Thursday, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu met half a dozen Union ministers to convey his state’s expectations from the Centre, including an announcement in the forthcoming Union Budget that his state would get a BPCL refinery. He also suggested that the Centre should set up a mechanism to “effectively coordinate” with the state government for “timely intervention” on issues flagged.
In his meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah, Naidu sought his help to resolve the pending issues related to the division of assets under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, bifurcation of institutions, and sorting out financial issues between the power distribution companies of the two states. The Andhra CM said a review of the Andhra cadre of the Indian Police Service (IPS) is pending since 2015, which would enhance the present strength from 79 to 117. He also sought funds for establishing Greyhounds Training Centres.
In his meeting with Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Naidu sought support for the construction of the Outer Ring Road project in Amaravati, widening of the Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway, and support for other road connectivity projects in the state. The Andhra CM asked Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal for financial grants to provide essential external infrastructure, such as industrial water, power, railway, and road connectivity, to the identified four industrial nodes in the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor within Andhra.
To Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Naidu asked the Centre to sanction an integrated aqua park for Andhra, devise a policy for increasing the subsidy to horticulture farmers, and release the balance central share of schemes, such as Per Drop More Crop, Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture, and National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm. The Andhra CM requested Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for central help to promote Vizag-Kakinada as a Green Hydrogen manufacturing hub.
Naidu asked Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri to request BPCL to set up a refinery in Andhra in consonance with Section 93(4) of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. The Andhra CM said that an announcement towards the establishment of a refinery in Andhra in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech would “augur well” for increasing the refinery capacity of the country in its journey towards achieving the objective of Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Naidu also had “a very fruitful meeting” with Sixteenth Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya, an official statement from the government of Andhra Pradesh said.
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