The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : White paper on allocation of funds sought

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Monday, Dec 28, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

White paper on allocation of funds sought

Five Ministers from Andhra region want State to make public region-wise allocation of funds

Meeting reportedly held at the residence of Endowments Minister Gade Venkat Reddy
“It’s necessary to put a full stop to the campaign about discrimination to Telangana”

HYDERABAD: Ministers from Andhra and Rayalaseema have decided that a status paper on funds allocation and spending in all the three regions should be brought out to counter the criticism from leaders that Telangana was discriminated by successive regimes in terms of development.

Even as a delegation of Telangana Ministers left for New Delhi to pressure the high command to fix a specific timeframe for creation of Telangana, their five colleagues from Andhra region met here on Sunday to take stock of the political situation.

The meeting reportedly held at the residence of Endowments Minister Gade Venkat Reddy was attended by Ministers Dharmana Prasada Rao (Revenue), Anam Ramnarayan Reddy (Municipal Administration), Vatti Vasant Kumar (Rural Development) and Botcha Satyanarayana (Panchayat Raj).

The five Ministers discussed the continuing allegations levelled by the leaders from Telangana that Andhra and Rayalaseema regions benefitted at the cost of their region.

They reportedly felt that it was necessary to put a full stop to the campaign about discrimination shown to Telangana.

Accordingly, sources said it was decided to first get all the relevant statistics about allocation of funds for the developmental as well as welfare programmes from 2004, when the Congress party came back to power after a long time.

Unfair criticism

The Ministers felt that it was unfair to criticise the other regions when the fact was that more funds were allocated for Telangana region.

“It is better that a white paper on the spending of funds is released at the earliest to clear the air,” a senior Minister is said to have remarked.

Their attempt to make public the region-wise spending on various sectors should not be construed as anti-Telangana, they felt.

The Ministers were said to have expressed confidence that Centre would protect the interests of the people of Andhra and Rayalaseema before taking any concrete decision on statehood for Telangana.

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