Andhra Pradesh, Telangana officials discuss division of assets
BENGALURU: Telangana Chief Secretary SK Joshi and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart LV Subramanyam, and other senior officials of both States, continued their discussions on Saturday.
At a meeting held at Pragathi Bhavan in Hyderabad, both chief secretaries deliberated on the Sheela Bhide Committee’s recommendations and the follow-up action that both governments need to take. They also discussed the sharing of AP Bhavan in Delhi.
Sources said AP has already issued 40 GOs regarding the division of institutions till date. Similar GOs need to be issued by the Telangana government as well. “After that, the Ministry of Home Affairs will finalise the proposals,” an official said.
Telangana State government Chief Advisor Rajiv Sharma, AP government Advisor Ajay Kallam, Telangana SR Department Principal Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao and AP official Rajeswara Rao were present in the meeting.
With regards to sharing of AP Bhavan in Delhi, three proposals made in the past were discussed by the officials. These proposals include the sharing of Sabari block, a portion of Godavari block and allotting of staff quarters to Telangana. The other proposal was to demolish the building altogether so that the land could be shared between the two States which can build Bhavans of their own.
It may be recalled that the Ministry of Home Affairs made it clear in August 2016 that “in case of properties situated outside the existing state of Andhra Pradesh, such properties shall be apportioned between the successor States on the basis of population ratio.”
The officials discussed different solutions for all contentious issues. They will place them before their respective chief ministers. Later, a delegation will meet Governor ESL Narasimhan on July 3. If necessary, another round of talks will take place in the second week of July in Tirupati of Andhra Pradesh, sources said.
Meanwhile, Telangana officials were all praises for Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s initiative to conduct a meeting with his counterpart YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday.
“Once again yesterday, it was proven that it is the political commitment to a cause that makes all the difference. Due to the unflinching support of two CMs of Telugu States, the first round of bilateral talks, not making any significant progress for five years, took off very well (sic),” said Telangana Chief Secretary SK Joshi on Twitter. In reply to Joshi’s tweet, Municipal Administration Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar tweeted: “And in a manner beneficial to both states, all the people and for the overall development of the region! (sic)”.