The stage is set for the crucial meeting of the Chief Ministers of two Telugu States – Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday.
Proactive approach
This is the first meeting of the Chief Ministers after more than three years and it comes in the light of the proactive approach adopted by the two States in resolving the pending issues.
The meeting, senior officials said, would primarily feature deliberations relating to division of the Schedule IX and X institutions which remained unresolved in spite of the recommendations made by the Sheela Bhide committee as well as a series of meetings convened by the Union Home Ministry.
The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister is learnt to have sent a communication to Telangana evincing keenness in resolving issues like persisting differences in division of staff of power utilities between the two States.
AP Bhavan
The communication reportedly stressed the need to complete bifurcation of AP Bhavan in New Delhi, sharing of river waters between the two States and the ₹ 1,775 crore dues by the Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation to the AP Civil Supplies Corporation.
Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi is understood to have directed the secretaries concerned to prepare detailed notes relating to the pending reorganisation issues of their respective departments so that they could be taken up with the neighbouring State as and when needed. Persistent efforts by the Telangana government had ensured that most of the assets listed under Section 5 of the Reorganisation Act located in Hyderabad had been transferred to the State government in the recent days.
Transfer of properties
The Andhra Pradesh government had already handed over Secretariat blocks, Assembly, Legislative Council as well as the buildings under its possession in the administrative complex at Errum Manzil. Besides, it had also handed over a majority of buildings in the Ministers’ quarters.
“Transfer of properties listed under Section 5 of the Act is almost completed as our argument on giving the properties in Hyderabad to Telangana on the basis of location has been upheld by both the Union government as well as the courts,” a senior official told The Hindu.
The official said the two States are yet to receive any communication from the Union Home Ministry relating to the assistance it promised for strengthening the police forces in the two successor States as incorporated in Section 9 of the Act.