The Srikrishna Committee, which held wide-ranging consultations over the past 11 months on the demand for a state of Telangana as well as the clamour for maintaining the present status of a united Andhra Pradesh, said on Tuesday that it would give an “impartial and professional” report. It added that the report would seek to achieve the “highest satisfaction of the maximum number of people.”
The five-member panel, headed by the former Supreme Court judge, Justice B. N. Srikrishna, will submit its report by December 31 to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram. It was appointed on February 3.
At a press conference here, Justice B.N. Srikrishna expressed the hope that the committee's report would seek to bring about a “permanent solution” to the statehood demand. All political parties had promised to maintain peace, harmony and calm after the submission of the report. “I hope peace prevails in the State after the report is submitted. It is the responsibility of the politicians and the media,” he said.
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Asked about deployment of security forces in the State, he said preventive measures were always good. “It is the duty of the government to ensure that every citizen is protected.”
Indicating that the report would run into two volumes, committee's member-secretary Vinod K. Duggal said it would offer “several options with their pros and cons.'' Every aspect mentioned in the terms of reference was looked into in a detailed manner and the issue at hand [Telangana] was analysed in all its “hues and shades.”
“Every politician will say that the report is a well-researched document and it is totally unbiased and absolutely professional. I hope everyone will be satisfied with the report which will be very positive,” Mr. Duggal, who was a former Union Home Secretary, said.
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The panel met 30 times, visited 23 districts and 35 villages and held interactions with about 100 organisations.
Other members of the committee are: Vice-Chancellor of National Law University Ranbir Singh, Senior Research Fellow at the Delhi-based National Council of Applied Economic Research Abusaleh Shariff and Ravinder Kaur from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT, Delhi.