Bifurcation of the State and creation of Telangana will affect north costal Andhra as many from this area are engaged as labourers or doing small jobs in Telangana area.
There could also be a problem regarding water from the Polavaram project as in the case of the ongoing row over Babli. This was the general opinion expressed by people of this backward village at a meeting organised on Thursday to help the Justice Srikrishna Committee to know people's opinion on whether to create a separate State of Telangana or keep Andhra Pradesh unified.
About 150 families, nearly one third of the village, were dependent on the wages their men folk earn in Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana and if the State was bifurcated, they would not be allowed there, they feared. The locals were forced to go out because the lands here were totally rain-fed and income was very low.
Village sarpanch Majji Venkata Rao said TRS leader K. Chandrasekhar Rao would trouble Andhra if a separate Telangana was formed.
The State government had spent huge amounts on Hyderabad and Telangana while there was no development in north coastal Andhra, said a farmer, Puvvada Appala Naidu.
Saripalli Sanyasi, a 72-year-old farmer, expected that canals under the Polavaram project would not materialise if Telangana was formed. He participated in the separate Andhra agitation during 1972 but was for a unified Andhra Pradesh now, the farmer told the Member-Secretary of the committee, V.K. Duggal. Another farmer, Majji Appala Naidu, said Telangana could be made a separate State only after developing every town in Andhra Pradesh on par with Hyderabad.
Villagers -- Majji Papayamma, P. Venkata Lakshmi, Boorla Lakshmi Durga, Malla Acthiyamma, Bantupalli Adinarayana, Majji Swamy Naidu, Pachipalli Dasu, Majji Appala Naidu, Vadapalli Yellayya, Majji Pydiraju and M. Appa Rao -- also opposed division of the State.
Earlier, Collector J. Syamala Rao welcomed and explained about the aim of the committee meeting the villagers.
Useful inputs
Mr. Duggal said at the end of the meeting that useful inputs had been obtained and the people could explain well the lack of sufficient education facilities, transport for students, lack of irrigation water, low income, etc., and why they wanted a unified AP.
He said it was the committee's endeavour to provide a best solution to the people of the State.
Panel members Ravinder Kaur and Ranbir Sinigh along with senior consultants Ravi Dhingra and Amita Motwani, Nodal Officer for the Committee Rajiv Sharma, Commissioner of Police J. Purnachandra Rao, Additional Joint Collector S. Satyanarayana and other revenue officers were present.
