Andhra govt estimates 11k crore deficit this year

NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh govt’s demand for financial assistance from the Centre, including loan restructuring, is meant to tide over a projected deficit of Rs 11,000 crore this year, with the state expecting to have a meagre surplus to deploy for development from next year.
The Chandrababu Naidu govt has prepared a blueprint that seeks to revisit almost two dozen direct benefit transfer schemes started by the Jaganmohan Reddy administration and initiate a series of steps to bolster revenue, start capital works and provide assistance to the needy, sources familiar with the discussions with the Centre told TOI.
Naidu held a series of meetings, including with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, defence minister Rajnath Singh and health minister J P Nadda on Friday.
“The treasury needs revenue augmentation and release of funds for capital works. The previous govt stopped critical payments and there is an enormous loan burden. It will take five-six months for us to get it in shape and restart the cycle,” said a source, adding that Andhra will pursue central schemes and some of the focus areas of TDP govt.
The Naidu administration is projecting that a series of measures will help generate up to Rs 37,000 crore by the fifth year of its tenure which can be deployed for the state’s development.The TDP govt wants to use the cluster near Visakhapatnam, which is close to Odisha, and the area around Karnataka to create industrial hubs with the proposed port in Duggirajupatnam being a crucial element of the plan. Central assistance for the port was promised at the time of bifurcation of Andhra and Telangana a decade ago, but there has not been any progress.