AMARAVATI: The Centre has asked AP and Telangana governments to submit reports regarding dues to power utilities. The Centre also directed the state governments to get comprehensive reports from key departments that were involved in disputes in order to resolve them.
A high-level committee headed by Union joint secretary in the home ministry, Ashish Kumar, held the first meeting on resolution of disputes between the Telugu states on Thursday. AP special chief secretary (finance), S S Rawat, and Telangana special chief secretary (finance), K Ramakrishna Rao, attended the session held in virtual mode from New Delhi.
The Union Home Ministry constituted the committee following a representation given by chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to Prime Minister to ensure the resolution of long pending disputes between AP and Telangana. Since the Home Ministry is the nodal agency to implement the AP reorganization Act, it constituted the committee in a bid to iron out the differences.
The meeting focused on the five issues listed in the agenda, including the AP's complaint about Telangana not clearing the dues to the AP Genco. AP had been contending that Telangana had to pay Rs.6,000 crore towards power dues.
Rawat had submitted a detailed presentation with regard to the dues to be cleared by Telangana. He explained that AP discoms supplied power to Telangana worth 6,000 crore during the initial days of bifurcation of the states. He said that Telangana had been refusing to clear the dues citing other reasons. AP also insisted on division of cash deposits available in the corporations listed in the IX schedule of AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.
It is learnt that Telangana special chief secretary said that AP had to pay dues to Telangana. AP had also demanded the Centre to amend the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 to remove the anomalies in the tax division between both the states.
