Ten years after the repartition of Andhra Pradesh and the formation of Telangana state, the Chief Ministers of Telugu states will meet for the first time to discuss the issues of distribution of assets and payment of dues, which are still unresolved.
23 in the 9th schedule and 30 in the 10th schedule have not been able to reach a consensus so far,
the dispute over the funds to be paid to the electricity companies,
the Chief Ministers of both the states, Revanth and Chandrababu, will hold
a key meeting at Praja Bhavan today.
Galla S Kiran Kumar, Bureau Chief
Today, Hyderabad: After the repartition of Andhra Pradesh. Ten years after the formation of Telangana state, the Chief Ministers of Telugu states will meet for the first time to discuss the issues of division of assets and payment of dues. Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu will meet at Praja Bhavan in Hyderabad on Saturday at 6 pm. The state government has already completed the arrangements for this. There is an opportunity to discuss the division of companies mainly in Schedule-9 and Schedule-10. The Union Home Ministry has set up the Sheela Bhide Committee on the distribution of assets, liabilities and cash balances of all 91 companies in Schedule-9. Out of these 68 companies have no objection to distribution. No consensus could be reached between the two states on the distribution of the remaining 23 institutions. Out of the 142 institutions in the Tenth Schedule, there are still disputes over the distribution of 30 institutions like Telugu Academy, Telugu University, Ambedkar University. There is a possibility to discuss the dues between the two states regarding the electricity companies. The AP government has to pay about Rs.24 thousand crores to Telangana. But AP says that Telangana owes them Rs.7 thousand crores. After taking charge, CM A. Revanth Reddy paid special attention to the pending issues related to partition. The officials were directed to give a report on the unresolved issues. In March, the partition dispute related to AP Bhavan in Delhi was resolved at the initiative of the CM. Recently, the distribution of funds related to the Mining Corporation got stuck. So far, about 30 meetings have been held between officials of the two states on partition disputes. After the formation of a new government in Andhra Pradesh led by Chandrababu Babu, the AP CM has written a letter to the Telangana Chief Minister asking to discuss the issues of division. Revanth responded positively to this and invited Chandrababu to participate in the discussions held at Jyoti Rao Phule Praja Bhavan. In addition to the Chief Ministers of both the states, many ministers, chief secretaries of the government and secretaries of the finance department are likely to participate in this meeting. The issues of distribution of water resources and separation of employees are also likely to be discussed in the meeting.
Already arrived..
On March 15 this year, the Union Home Ministry took a decision to divide between the two states regarding AP Bhavan, Patodi House and Nursing Hostel in Delhi. Both the states agreed to this. In Hyderabad, which was decided to be the joint capital for ten years, many buildings, including the Secretariat and the Assembly, were divided so that the two states could use them. In this, the Secretariat, B.R.K.R. Bhavan, Irrigation, roads-buildings in Erramanzil, Engineer-in-Chief Offices of Rural Water Supply Department, Aranya Bhavan, Assembly, Council buildings, vacant minister’s houses allotted to Andhra Pradesh were handed over to Telangana in 2019. The Chief Secretary of AP Government has already written to Telangana CS that he is ready to hand over all but three of the remaining buildings allotted to AP. In January this year, orders were issued to the department heads of the respective departments to hand over the rest except the Lakeview guest house, heritage office and CID headquarters.
Discussion on these is the key
In Schedule-9 of the Andhra Pradesh Redistricting Act, the share of the companies agreed between the two states is only 0.7 percent of the total property value, and the rest of the companies are the key, and Andhra Pradesh wants to distribute them all together in proportion to the population. Telangana is not agreeing to this. It is stated that the institutions where they are are theirs. It is learned that the Union Home Ministry has indicated that it is sufficient to decide on the distribution of the organizations that have been agreed upon and discuss the remaining ones again. There are 142 institutions in Schedule-10, most of which are related to training. It is reported that the value of these is estimated at Rs.38 thousand crores. Even after the Supreme Court verdict, the issue of distribution of property of AP Higher Education Council has not been implemented. Sources said that Telangana claimed that the Sheela Bhide Committee did not follow the same methodology for all the institutions. Andhra Pradesh has stated that there are 12 more companies worth about Rs.1,759 crore which are not mentioned in Schedule-9 and Schedule-10. These include Hyderabad Agricultural Cooperative Federation (HACA), Housefed, Vaidya Vidhan Parishad, Labor Welfare Board, Aviation Academy, Director of Insurance etc. Even though it has been ten years since then, the matter of division of the institutions in the Schedules-9 and 10 of the Redistricting Act has not been resolved till now. In the background of the meeting of the Chief Ministers of the two states on Saturday, we have to wait and see what kind of progress there will be.
Issues raised by Telangana
1. 7 Mandals merged in Andhra Pradesh through Ordinance should be re-incorporated into Telangana after formation of the state.
2. 1000 km to Andhra Pradesh. There is a vast coastal corridor. Telangana wants a part of this coast.
3. Tirumala Sri Venkateswara Swamy is the idol of Telugu people. Telangana should also be given a portion of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (Tithide).
4. There is 811 TMCs of water available in Krishna waters. According to the International Water Distribution Principle, water transfers should be done in proportion to the catchment area. Similarly, 558 TMC water should be allotted to Telangana.
5. Telangana power companies and Andhra Pradesh power companies should pay the dues of Rs.24 thousand crores immediately. If there is anything to be paid to Andhra Pradesh, we will pay it.
6. Telangana has no ports. Krishnapatnam, Machilipatnam and Gangavaram ports in AP should be part of the division.
