Centre not released dues of Rs 2,783 cr to AP: Minister

The Union government has not released a sum of Rs 2,783 crore to Andhra Pradesh, which is due as grants under the 13th Finance Commission for fiscal 2014-15, state Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu told the Legislative Assembly today.
Replying to a question raised by YSR Congress MLA, A Suresh on floor of the House, Ramakrishnudu said of the total amount, Rs 1787.84 crore is due to Panchayat Raj institutions (Rs 1145.61 crore) and urban local bodies (Rs 633.37 crore) and special area grants (Rs 8.86 crore).
Under the state-specific needs, a sum of Rs 482.63 crore has to be released during 2014-15, he added.

"Establishment of primary health centres, especially in rural areas, heritage conservation of 560 protected ancient sites, grants to improve water quality in saline-affected areas, provision of drinking water in inaccessible tribal areas were some of the schemes covered under the state-specific needs," the minister said.
Grants to panchayat raj institutions and urban local bodies were held up due to delay in conduct of elections while in other cases non-submission of utilisation certificates (by the previous government) was the reason, he said.
"We have now submitted the utilisation certificates to the Centre while elections to PRIs and ULBs have also been conducted," Ramakrishnudu said.

He also introduced the Andhra Pradesh Value-Added Tax (Second Amendment) Bill in the Assembly to give effect to reduction in Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) tax from 16 to one per cent.
"After re-organisation of Andhra Pradesh, the government has recognised the need to develop the aviation sector for faster economic growth. Reducing the tax on ATF would result in increased air traffic in the state, which in turn would give a fillip to the aviation sector.
"Though such reduction would result in an apparent loss in revenue of about Rs 25 crore per annum, the government considered other economic benefits and issued a notification on September 18 reducing tax on ATF to one per cent," the minister added.