Andhra CM meets Home Minister Amit Shah, appeals to address pending state issues

Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, urging him to address longstanding concerns, including the crucial Polavaram Irrigation project.

New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and appealed to him to look into the long-pending issues related to the state including the Polavaram Irrigation project.

During the 45-minute meeting at Shah’s residence, Reddy again flagged these issues and requested him to address them in the interest of people of Andhra Pradesh.

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“The chief minister discussed with Amit Shahji all pending state issues,” a state government official told PTI.

The chief minister has been raising the pending state issues in his visits to Delhi but they remain unresolved.

Reimbursement of the arrears of Rs 1,310 crore incurred by the state from its exchequer for the Polavaram project was among the key issues taken up during the meeting.

He also requested for early release of Rs 17,144 crore for implementing the rehabilitation and resettlement package for the affected people of 36 colonies in accordance with the Lidar survey, instead of the Rs 12,912 crore for completing the first phase.

He also appealed to Shah to take effective steps to ensure that the Telangana government clears dues of Rs 7,230 crore from its discoms to Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO) for the power supplied between 2014 and 2017.

Just before meeting Shah, Reddy also paid a courtesy visit to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis here.

Earlier during the day, Reddy attended the chief ministers’ conference on left-wing extremism organised by the Union Home Ministry.

In the meeting, he said the Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) is on the wane in the state and Maoist activities are contained to only a few pockets of the state, according to a statement.

Reddy suggested that to prevent further spread of LWE, continuous and collaborative efforts are needed from the Centre as well as states.

While maintaining law and order is a state subject, it is crucial for the Centre to provide unflinching financial and strategic support to LWE-affected states, particularly in areas of capacity-building, modernization of the police forces and developmental initiatives, he added.

On Thursday, he met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Power Minister R K Singh in Delhi and discussed issues related to the state, including the Polavaram irrigation project.

The CM is leaving for Vijayawada Saturday morning.