A meeting between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to resolve the stalemate over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in New Delhi has ended inconclusively.
The Union Home Ministry convened the meeting on Monday which was attended by Telangana Finance and State Reorganisation Affairs special chief secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao and his A.P. counterpart S.S. Rawat along with the resident commissioners of the two States. Home Ministry’s senior officials from the CS (Centre-State) division and estates division were present at the meeting.
Deliberations during the 40-minute meeting were said to be focussed on encroachments on 0.512 acres particularly abutting the internal road in AP Bhavan complex. The two States recently deliberated upon a new option proposed by the Telangana government for sharing the assets of AP Bhavan, spread over 19.7 acres estimated to value ₹9,908 crore.
According to option G, Telangana would get Sabari block (3 acres) and Pataudi House (5.245 acre) totalling 8.24 acres. The Godavari block (4.315 acre), internal road (0.512 acre), part of Sabari block (0.95 acre), nursing hostel (3.35 acre) and Pataudi House (2.39 acre) totalling 11.53 acres will be the share of Andhra Pradesh.
But the neighbouring State expressed its reservations pertaining to the 0.512-acre land, claiming it was encroached and that the value of the land would be around ₹250 crore. The entire extent of the land could not be utilised by the A.P. government unless the encroachments were removed. “The government of A.P. had to be compensated by providing equivalent land in either Sabari Block or Pataudi House block. Option G proposed by the Telangana government is acceptable subject to fulfilment of condition indicated,” A.P. government said in a letter addressed to the Home Ministry.
Senior officials said the two governments had agreed to extend cooperation in the removal of encroachments, primarily on the internal road. “Telangana government did not give any commitment on the compensation sought by Andhra Pradesh,” an official informed, adding the Telangana representatives said that they would come up with their proposals after the removal of encroachments.
