Harish Rao writes to union Finance Minister, seeks release of Rs 495 crore wrongly transferred to AP

Finance Minister T Harish Rao said the Central government had released Rs.495 crore as part of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) share to Andhra Pradesh in 2014-15.

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has once again raised the delay on the centre’s part in releasing Rs.495 crore to the State, which was wrongly transferred to the Andhra Pradesh government during the formation of Telangana.

In a letter to union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman on Sunday, Finance Minister T Harish Rao said the Central government had released Rs.495 crore as part of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) share to Andhra Pradesh in 2014-15. During the first year after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, grants, especially under CSS, were allocated between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana based on the population ratio.

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However, these funds were wrongly transferred to AP and Telangana suffered a financial loss, he said.

Since formation of the State, the Telangana government has been requesting the union Government, the Andhra Pradesh Government and the Accountant General of India to adjust the rightful share of Telangana in the CSS matching grants. The efforts had not borne fruits so far, Harish Rao said in the letter.

Requesting Nirmala Sitaraman to personally address the injustice meted out to Telangana, Harish Rao said Telangana was appealing to the Centre to release these funds since last seven years. In November, he had himself raised the issue with Sitaraman during the pre-budget preparation meeting. The Telangana government had also taken up the matter with the Andhra Pradesh government and the Accountant General but the amount was yet to be adjusted to the State, he said.