The promulgation of an ordinance by the Centre transferring the submergence areas of Polavaram project in Telangana – five mandals of Khammam district completely and two mandals partly – to the successor State of Andhra Pradesh is snowballing into a major controversy.
Politicians and people’s organisations of Seemandhra are welcoming the transfer of submergence areas as a step to prevent disputes between Telangana and A.P. while those belonging to Telangana have termed it ‘undemocratic’ and a conspiracy to strain relations between the two States.
Former Deputy Speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said the ordinance had ignited a conflict between the two States. Blaming Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao for the ordinance, the Congress leader pointed out that it was because of Mr. Rao’s demand for restoration of pre-1956 Telangana that the Centre had issued the ordinance.
He criticised those pointing fingers at the Congress (UPA government) for the ordinance and said that the issue of transfer of seven submergence mandals was not there in the A.P. Reorganisation Act, 2014.
Supporting the ordinance, senior leader of YSR Congress M.V. Mysoora Reddy said here on Thursday that there was nothing wrong with the Centre’s decision and pointed out that a similar issue had cropped up with regard to the Jurala project in the past and as a result, farmers whose land were submerged were yet to get compensation. On the TRS’ call for a Telangana bandh to protest the ordinance, he said it was an act to placate people.
Former ministers K. Jana Reddy and T. Jeevan Reddy, speaking at other places, termed it ‘a hasty step by the Centre’. It gives an impression that the Centre is siding with Seemandhra and it would have been better if a decision was taken after the formation of the two governments, they said. MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi also termed it as an act that could precipitate the matter.
