A step in right direction

Hyderabad: Both the Telugu states took a positive step on Saturday to resolve the contentious issues related to the AP State Reorganisation Act 2014 which has been hanging fire for the last 10 years.

It was a well-prepared meeting and the main agenda was to prioritise the pending issues and come up with a route map so that solutions could be found in a time-bound manner. Both the governments are well aware that solutions to all issues cannot be found at a single meeting.

According to Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, it was a one step forward to find an amicable solution to several pending issues. He said they held detailed discussion touching upon many issues during the nearly two-hour long official meeting between the two governments headed by AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy.

After taking the views of the officials, it was decided that two committees, one consisting of Chief Secretaries of both the states and three members of the CS rank from each state would be formed within a week and will start functioning.

This committee will discuss the pending issues, including irrigation, power dues, sharing of assets, and repatriation of employees. It will come up with a solution. If there are issues on which they cannot arrive at a consensus, then the second committee consisting of three ministers from each state would discuss and try to find solutions. If still some problems remain, the two chief ministers will again meet and discuss. It is learnt that the issue of handing over five villages under Bhadrachalam mandal also came up for discussion and both the chief ministers agreed to write a letter to the Centre on the issue.

The AP government in principle said it has no objection to handing over the five villages to Telangana since they fall under the TG territory and are not part of the areas which would be submerged under the Polavaram project. The five villages are Yetapaka, Gundala, Purushottam Patnam, Kannegudam and Pichukalapadu.

Another major decision was to constitute a coordination committee consisting of police officers of Additional DG rank from both the states to fight the menace of drugs and cyber crime.

Sources said a lot of preparatory work had taken place before the two CMs met. Both the CMs on Saturday held meetings with their respective officers. Earlier officials from both the states met and discussed the contentious issues and prepared notes to be submitted and discussed at the meeting. Earlier, Naidu was received by Revanth Reddy, Bhatti Vikramarka and other ministers. Naidu also felicitated Revanth, Bhatti and other ministers.

Telangana CM hosted dinner for Naidu and his team at Praja Bhavan.