Address the concerns of AP speedily

It is good news for the residual state of Andhra Pradesh. The constitution of a 3-member committee to carry out the preparatory work and recommend practical ways to resolve the bilateral issues arising out of the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act, 2014, is a delayed step in the right direction. The consistent effort by the Govt of AP and its Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy for such a move by the Centre, needs to be appreciated.

The 9-item agenda of the meeting of this committee includes mainly the Special Category Status (SCS), Development grant for Rayalaseema and north coastal Andhra districts, tax concessions, revenue gap among other things. The SCS is not a closed chapter, the present government of AP asserted many times. In fact, the wellbeing of future generations is guaranteed by the SCS alone to AP. So, the Narendra Modi government must concede this demand that is alive among the people for 8 long years despite tinkering with it by some vested interests.

The development of the 7 backward districts must be of top priority for the Centre to check their further alienation from the mainstream. Having lost the most prosperous city of Hyderabad to Telangana, the residual state suffers a huge revenue gap, which must be compensated at any cost by the Union government.

We all know that unemployment is on the historic rise for many reasons in the entire country, but the division of the state has an additional negative impact here and evaporates the aspirations of youth seeking employment and forcing them to migrate. Tax and other concessions by the governments only attract the new industry to come to AP. The agenda of the meeting missed one crucial point i.e. the promise to establish a steel plant in Kadapa.

It is the time for the Centre to act in true federal spirit. It must be kept in mind that the division of the state is not the aspiration of the people of residual AP, so all the economic, legal and political commitments made to them must be honoured by the government at the Centre. Let us hope that the constitution of the 3-men committee serves this purpose.

A Raghunatha Reddy, Kadapa