The Telangana State council of the Communist Party of India (CPI) has urged the Centre to withdraw the ordinance issued for the transfer of seven mandals of Khammam district, submergence areas of Polavaram project, to the successor State of Andhra Pradesh.
The CPI strongly objected to the Centre’s decision to transfer even non-submergence areas to residuary A.P. In a statement issued on Friday, the CPI council stated that the Centre’s move at a time when the bifurcation process was nearing completion, had sown the seeds of conflict between the two regions.
Clarifying that the CPI had no objection on areas mentioned in Section-3 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, the ordinance issued by the Centre transferring 324 villages to A.P. instead of 205, as mentioned in the gazette notification published on the Act, was not only undemocratic but also against Centre-State relations.
Instead of resolving the issue through talks between the two elected governments, the NDA government is treading the UPA path of taking unilateral decisions, the CPI alleged.
The Centre had included in Section-90 of the Act the issues of taking up Polavaram as a national project, getting environmental clearances, rehabilitation and resettlement and getting necessary clearances from the Telangana government.
However, the Centre’s hasty step would deny Sileru hydro-electric generating station and precious mineral wealth to Telangana with the inclusion of additional villages in the ordinance, the CPI argued.
Besides, the Centre’s decision was creating another peculiar situation of the MLA-elects of Bhadrachalam and Aswaraopet constituencies losing their native villages, where they have voting right, to A.P.
Even the displaced tribal communities prefer their resettlement in Telangana, the party noted, seeking withdrawal of the ordinance.
