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KCR Meets Jaitley, Seeks Special Status for Telangana State

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday urged Union finance minister Arun Jaitley to grant ‘special category status’ to the new state.

Rao, during his second day stay in Delhi on Saturday, called on Jaitley and held confabulations over several issues relating to Telangana.

TRS sources said during the meeting, KCR had sought generous help from the Centre on financial front to implement new projects in the state. He also tried to convince Jaitley about the backwardness of Telangana to justify his demand for granting special status to the state. During the meeting, KCR is learnt to have tried to convince the finance minister on the need for devolution of more funds and tax incentives for the new state for sustainable growth.

Soon after the meeting, TRS MP B Vinod Kumar told mediapersons that during the meeting KCR had requested the finance minister to grant special status to Telangana which is a backward state when compared to several other states.

‘’Of the ten districts in Telangana, as many as eight districts were declared backward districts by the Planning Commission. Hence, Telangana is eligible for getting special status,” he said.

The MP further disclosed that during the meeting KCR had told Jaitley that Hyderabad was not getting the revenue as was projected in the AP Reorganisation Act-2014 after bifurcation.

“Earlier Oil companies and AP Beverages Corporation in undivided AP used to pay taxes in Hyderabad. Now, after bifurcation, these companies have to pay taxes in both AP and Telangana. Because of this, Hyderabad’s revenue is decreasing now,” he said.

CM Calls on NTPC Chairman

Chief minister also held discussions with Arup Roy Choudhury, chairman and managing director (CMD) of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in Delhi on Saturday. During the meeting, the chief minister strongly pitched for expediting NTPC plant, with a capacity of 4,000 MW, for Telangana that was part of Reorganisation Bill. “Since Telangana is facing severe power crisis, KCR requested the CMD to look into the possibility of setting up more power plants in the state,” sources said.

Source: The New Indian Express

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