In the run up to the budget, there was talk of AP and Bihar exacting a huge price from the central government for the support extended by the ruling parties of those states to the NDA government. All sorts of figures were mentioned- one report in the media said that AP had demanded Rs 1 lakh crore.
How much exactly is the central government dishing out?
It is impossible to make out precise allocations from the budgetary papers on expenditure. All we have are indications thrown out in the budget speech.
AP gets Rs 15,000 crore in the form of a soft loan arranged by the centre from multilateral agencies. That is hardly a "cost" to the centre. The budget speech mentions a few other things:
i. Financing and early completion of the Polavaram Irrigation Project,
ii. Funds will be provided for essential infrastructure such as water, power, railways and roads in Kopparthy node on the Vishakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor and Orvakal node on Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor.
iii. Grants for
backward regions of Rayalaseema, Prakasam and North Coastal Andhra, as stated
in the Act, will also be provided.
I have not been able to make out the specific allocations for these projects.
For Bihar, the budget lists various projects in the railways, power and floods and irrigation amounting to about Rs 59,000 crore but there is no mention of the time frame. Also, some of these could be projects planned by the Centre in the normal course.
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