A meeting convened by the Union Home Ministry to resolve the pending bifurcation issues between the two Telugu States, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, ended inconclusively with the Centre stressing the need for effective coordination between the two States to resolve amicably majority of the issues.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, who chaired the meeting on Wednesday, reportedly said that the Centre would interfere in issues of extreme importance warranting its interference. But it was for the two States to take the initiative for amicably resolving other issues at their level. Finance department principal secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao, who is also secretary of State Reorganisation Affairs, explained Telangana’s stand on the pending bifurcation issues.
Apportionment of assets and liabilities of Schedule IX and X institutions between the two States, payment of power dues by Telangana to AP Genco, division of Singareni Collieries Company Limited, division of Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in New Delhi and final allocation of DSP (civil), additional SP (civil) and SP non-cadre officers, were among other issues that figured in the more than one-hour video conference.
The observation of CAG about pending apportionment of ₹1.51 lakh crore under capital heads and other amounts too, is said to have come up during the discussions. The Union Home Secretary is understood to have suggested that the two States could seek the cooperation of the CAG for reaching a broad agreement in this direction.
While the meeting agreed that a decision on the division of assets of AP Bhavan was pending at the highest level (Chief Ministers of two States), the Union Home Ministry had suggested that the AP government seek clarification from the legal authorities on the division of SCCL. Senior officials said that the Attorney General had already clarified that SCCL belonged to Telangana on the basis of location of its entire operations in the State.
The Centre, however, reiterated its stand that the two States should pro-actively find an amicable resolution to the stand-off on AP Heavy Machinery and Engineering Limited (APHMEL), a subsidiary of SCCL, located near Vijayawada in AP.
