Budget gives AP big push, says Union min Varma

Tirupati: Union minister of state for steel and heavy industries Bhupati Raju Srinivasa Varma on Saturday described the Union Budget as a major boost for Andhra Pradesh, saying it reflected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Viksit Bharat.

Speaking to media here, the minister congratulated finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on presenting her ninth Union Budget and said Andhra Pradesh had received “huge allocations” this time.

Highlighting key initiatives, he said the Budget provides for high-speed rail corridors connecting Hyderabad–Bengaluru and Bengaluru–Chennai, with a new Chittoor–Tirupati line extending into the State. He also said a rare earth minerals mining corridor would cover Andhra Pradesh along with Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Varma said approvals were in place for India’s largest steel plant with a capacity of 17 million tonnes, proposed by ArcelorMittal in Anakapalli and Srikakulam districts, and construction would begin shortly.

The minister added that substantial allocations had been made to the VB RAM-G scheme to ensure direct cash transfers to the poor while addressing earlier implementation issues. Coastal farmers, he said, would benefit from significant subsidies for coconut cultivation and related industries.

Answering a question on laddu ghee adulteration issue, the Union minister slammed the YSRCP for what he termed “false propaganda”, asserting that serious irregularities had taken place during its procurement.

He questioned YSRCP leaders for claiming that a “clean chit” had been given in the case and challenged them to specify who had issued such clearance.

Srinivasa Varma alleged that tender norms were deliberately altered to favour an ineligible firm which, he said, had no milk production, procurement system or dairy infrastructure, yet was allowed to manufacture synthetic ghee.

Citing an NDDB report, he claimed animal fat was detected in the ghee used for preparing Tirumala laddus, adding that the same adulterated ghee was even used for lamps and arati.

The minister questioned why no action was taken despite a report being submitted as early as 2022 and warned of strict punishment if the NDDB findings were tampered with in the final SIT report.

District BJP president Samanchi Srinivas, state vice-president Ashok Raju, BJP national council member Muni Subramanyam, Dr Sridhar, Pushpalatha, Dr Naresh Babu, Narendra Reddy, Sunil and Nagaraju were present.