The State Cabinet has decided to wage a legal battle against the Centre for achieving the coveted special category status (SCS) as well as all the provisions mentioned in the AP Reorganisation Act. The Council of Ministers met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu at the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi, discussed at length the affidavit filed by the Centre in the Supreme Court mentioning that it fulfilled all the promises made to the residuary State of AP in the Reorganisation Act and cannot accord special category status to the State. They decided to knock on the doors of the apex court with a counter affidavit.

The Cabinet felt that the Centre’s action is vindictive towards the State as it has not implemented the AP Reorganisation Act in toto. Briefing the newsmen on the Cabinet meeting, Information and Public Relations Minister Kalava Srinivasulu said the government is going to counter the claims of the Centre by filing a counter affidavit. “We will discuss with the legal experts to present arguments in the court against the Centre by filing a counter affidavit and will explain the negligent attitude of the Centre towards discharging its responsibilities with regard to the implementation of AP Reorganisation Act,’’ he said.

“So far the Centre filed three affidavits in connection with Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court. Without resolving many crucial aspects like SCS, revenue deficit (State government claims `16,000 crore deficit and the Centre says it is just `4,000 crore-odd), division of assets of institutions listed under Schedule IX and X, the Centre in the recent affidavit mentioned that it had implemented all the provisions mentioned in the Act,’’ the minister said and observed that such attitude of the Centre is misleading the court and the public.

After giving Rs 1,500 crore for construction of Amaravati, the Centre did not even permit the State government to spend Rs 1,000 crore it sanctioned for stormwater drain works in Guntur and Vijayawada despite the State government requesting it to allow it to use the funds for capital city construction, he said.IREPThe Cabinet has approved to entrust the responsibility of constructing the country’s largest Integrated Renewable Energy Project (IREP) to Greenco.

Greenco will set up 1,000 MW capacity solar plant 550 MW capacity wind power plant and 1,200 MW capacity standalone pumped storage capacities in Pinnapuram village of Panyam mandal in Kurnool district.Greenco should complete the project within four years. It will spend `15,000 crore for the purpose.

Considering IREP as a mega industrial project, approvals will be given through single-window system without any delay. One tmcft of water will be allocated to the project from Gorakallu Reservoir. As per the price decided by the revenue department, 4,766.28 acres of land will be given to the project.

The Cabinet has decided to change the AP Information Technology Policy 2014-2020 into the AP Information Technology Policy 2018-2020. As per the revised policy, the government has set a target to generate one lakh jobs a year. The IT sector should contribute `6,500 crore to GSDP.The Cabinet gave nod to hand over the Eluru Smart City project to Shapoorji Pallonji under Swiss Challenge method. A sum of `1,233.17 crore will be spent for completion of the project.