An important meeting of the chief secretaries of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh convened by the Union Home Ministry to take stock of the assurances given to the two successor States in Schedule 13 of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014 on Friday has been deferred.
The Union Ministry sent a communication to the two States on Wednesday about its decision to postpone the meeting assuring that fresh dates of the meeting would be communicated soon.
The communication came at a time when the governments of the two Telugu States were preparing information relating to the assurances that had been incorporated in the Reorganisation Act but had not been implemented so far.
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Pending assurances
Some of the assurances in the Schedule 13 included setting up of steel plants in Khammam and YSR Kadapa district, 4,000 MW power plant in Telangana by NTPC, rail coach factory in Telangana, measures for establishing rapid rail and road connectivity from the AP capital to Hyderabad and other important cities of Telangana and upgradation of Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati airports as international airports. This is in addition to setting up of premier institutions of national repute in the two successor States.
Senior officials said the meeting assumed significance as it is expected to be chaired by the Union Home Secretary and secretaries of several Union Ministries had been invited to participate in the deliberations about the status of implementation of the assurances given to the two States. “The last meeting chaired by the Union Home Secretary was held in May 2015. The sub-committees constituted by the Union Ministry had been holding discussions ever since,” a senior official said.
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Sale of assets
Meanwhile, the officials of Andhra Pradesh defended the government’s move to dispose of its fixed assets located in Telangana claiming that it was within the purview of Section 53 of the Reorganisation Act. “A high level committee has been constituted to work out modalities involved in the process.
The Telangana government too could explore options for disposing of its share in the joint institutions like Girijan Cooperative Corporation headquartered in Visakhapatnam,” a senior official told The Hindu .
The Telangana Government has decided to lodge a complaint with the Centre about the AP Government’s “unilateral” decision to dispose of its share at a time when the bifurcation of the assets was yet to be completed.