Rs 10,000 Crore And 10 Conditions?

The other day the Union Finance Department has sanctioned Rs 10,460.87 crore to AP government under Revenue Deficit and the YCP celebrated it as AP CM YS Jagan Reddy’s victory in negotiating the talks with the Modi government. However their laugh did not last long as conditions put forward kind of blocked the mind of YCP leaders.

The central government has sanctioned Rs 10,460.87 crore to AP for the financial year 2014-15 which incurred revenue deficit after the bifurcation of the state. Regarding the same, the Accountant General’s office, the then Governor also reported the matter to the Centre. On Revenue Deficit, former CM Chandrababu Naidu had gone to Delhi and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Finance Minister multiple times but all his attempts were in vain. After repeated requests, the union government clarified that the Centre owes only Rs 139 crore to AP.

But recently, CM Jagan had written letter to the Centre on Revenue Deficit. Responding to letter from CM Jagan, the Union Finance Department released 10,460 crores regarding the financial deficit of 2014-15. These funds have been credited to the state treasury.

However, the Center has imposed several conditions on utilization of these funds. It has been suggested that if the state government uses the funds under the respective projects, the permission of the concerned authorities should be taken. The conditions include there should be supervision of the concerned ministry or the state government and the implementing department on the utilization of funds. Similarly, utilization certificates are suggested to be sent to the Union government’s respective departments.

The conditions were manageable by the AP government but upon noticing the fourth clause, the AP government officials were stunned. The fourth clause stated that there will be no financial assistance from the Center in the future for the projects that are currently using these funds.

If the AP government uses these funds for the construction of Polavaram dam, it fears that the Centre might not sanction more funds for the project in future. Likewise this clause applies to any project the state government undertakes.

After reading the conditions/clauses the AP finance department officials are unable to figure out how to utilize these funds. They added that these funds would have a direct impact on the state’s finances and it’s an irreparable blow.