Telangana Rachayatala Vedika has alleged that the conspiracy to include Bhadrachalam, Munagala and Nadigudem in the proposed Seemandhra state was only to loot river water. Vedika demanded that Telangana state should be formed with the present 119 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats with Hyderabad as its capital. No deviation or change of boundaries would be acceptable, Vedika said.
Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, Vedika president Juloori Gouri Shankar said Munagala people fought for 10 years to include the Munagala Paragana in Telangana. Finally, based on Fazl Ali Commission’s recommendation Munagala Paragana was merged in Nalgonda district taking it out from Krishna district in 1959. Munagala struggle was the precursor to Telangana movement, he added.
Gouri Shankar explained that there was a head regulator in Munagala, used to release Krishna water up to Nuzvid in Krishna district. Once, Munagala was included in Seemandhra, there would be no problem to release water. “The demand to include Bhadrachalam and Munagala in Seemandhra is meant to loot irrigation water,” he explained.
Osmania University professor G Laxman said that state division was now being treated as a division of the nation. “Nation is indivisible and states are divisible. Convenience of administration and convenience of local people should be considered while fixing the boundaries of the new State,” Laxman said.
He pointed out that if Bhadrachalam was included in East Godavari district, the district headquarters would be 300 km away from Bhadrachalam. If it was retained in Khammam district in Telangana, the headquarters was just 70 km away. This was convenient for the local people, he said. Likewise, Munagala and Aswaraopet too should be continued in Telangana, he added. The public demand too was same, he said.
Laxman said that the demand to include Bhadrachalam in Seemandhra was for the Polavaram project which was declared as national project. Several villages in Bhadrachalam and Aswaraopet would submerge under Polavaram and it would became an inter-State dispute post-division. Once Bhadrachalam was included in Seemandhra, the dispute does not arise. That’s why they are demanding Bhadrachalam, he explained.
MLC K Dilip Kumar representing Nalgonda, Khammam and Warangal Graduates constituency demanded that Telangana should be with 119 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats. The delimitation of segments was made for geographical convenience. But, the chief minister was making unnecessary controversy over the boundaries, he alleged. He demanded national status for Pranahita-Chevella. He also urged the Centre to keep the Assembly in suspended animation and President could convene the Assembly session once T Bill was sent to the House. The Centre should sack Kiran Reddy for making controversial statements and submitting such reports to the GoM.