The YSR Congress Party on Sunday said that the decision to form a committee with the officials in the meeting of the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states is a step backwards in solving the problems arising out of the bifurcation of the state. The opposition party opined that this is a time-consuming process. In Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. The YCP has faulted the decisions taken after the talks between Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. The meeting decided to form a committee with officials to discuss and resolve the issues arising in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act 2014.
Minister Perni Nani and former MLA G. Srikanth Reddy said that there are disputes between the two state governments. He said that there are unresolved issues, assets to be distributed and cases pending in the courts in both states. “Both the state governments are aware of these issues. We believe that a new committee to identify outstanding issues will lead to further delay in resolving these issues,” they added.
The YSRCP leaders said that earlier the central government had constituted a Sheilabedi committee headed by a senior official to implement the provisions of the reorganization law passed by the parliament. “Altogether, the Sheila Bedi Committee has made several recommendations regarding property disputes in the state. These recommendations have been discussed at various stages over the past decade. But some of the recommendations were not accepted and the accepted recommendations were not implemented by the Telangana government. We believe that setting up a new committee will bring the negotiations back to square one,” he said.
YSRCP leaders said that former Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy told Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the meeting of the Chief Ministers of Southern States held in Tirupati that he should focus on the unresolved issues of the decade and that there is no progress in Andhra Pradesh. However, Home Minister Shah assured that the issues will be resolved within the stipulated time.
“Following this assurance, the discussions on the issues of division of chief secretaries and officers of the two states under the auspices of the Union Home Ministry have gained momentum. We feel that setting up a new committee without focusing on taking these discussions forward will cause further delay,” they said. They stated that Parliament made the Partition Act and it was the Central Government that had to implement it, and setting up a committee without the participation of the Central Government raised many questions.
He stated that the previous YSRCP government had put pressure on the central government regarding the electricity dues of about Rs.7 thousand crores to the state. Orders were issued for the payment of these arrears, but later the case went to court.
“Especially in the management of water projects, serious injustice is being done to Andhra Pradesh and the people of Rayalaseema region are suffering but Telangana is releasing water from the left canal of Srisailam for power generation. It is unfair to end the meeting without mentioning this issue. We are trying to find an immediate solution,” said former minister Perni Nani.
The YSRCP leaders also referred to the media reports that Telangana had demanded a share in the properties of ports and Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam in Andhra Pradesh during the meeting of Chief Ministers. There were also reports that Andhra Pradesh was willing to return some villages of the seven mandals merged with Andhra Pradesh to Telangana in 2014. “This has caused serious concern among people across the state. The absence of any announcement from the Andhra Pradesh government, including any announcement by ministers or officials, is raising public suspicion,” he said.�