Naidu urges Shah to bring bill for statutory status to Amaravati

HYderabadAndhra Pradesh chief government government minister N Chandrababu Naidu on tues urged unification place minister Amit Shah to introduce the legislation on providing statutory status to the capital city of Amravati in the Parliament and introduce a legislation during the second phase of the ongoing Budget Session.“He (Naidu) requested the home minister to give the approval for the bill and introduce the same during the second phase of the ongoing Budget session of Parliament,” said a state government official. He added that the draft legislation regarding the matter has been under consideration of the Centre, which had been given clearance by the Union law ministry.Naidu also discussed matters concerning the state with the Union home minister, including the investigation report by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the alleged supply adulteration of ghee supplied to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).This comes in the backdrop of the chief minister meeting with several Union ministers on Tuesday , including Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union and Union jal shakti minister CR Patil, Union minister for housing and urban affairs Manohar Lal Khattar, Union minister for heavy industries H D Kumaraswamy and Union agriculture minister Shivaraj Singh Chouhan to discuss the issues related to their respective departments, according to official statement by the chief minister’s office.Naidu discussed the matters related to the pending funds for Andhra Pradesh, approvals for various projects and other financial matters related to the state, during his meeting with Sitharaman. Meeting Vaishnaw, the chief minster sought completion of ongoing railway projects, sanction of new railway lines and introduction of additional train services in Andhra Pradesh. Further, he requested that the Bengaluru–Chennai high speed rail corridor be extended to connect Tirupati, strengthening connectivity to the major pilgrimage city.During his meeting with the Jal Shakti Minister, Naidu requested to permanently revoke the “stop work order” imposed on the Polavaram project, stating that the order continues to obstruct the smooth execution of the project. He appealed for a full financial assistance for Polavaram Phase II, which includes land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement and construction of protective embankments, to the tune of approximately ₹32,000 crore.