The Central government has reiterated that pending bilateral issues between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh post-bifurcation can be resolved only with the cooperation of the State governments concerned.
“The Central government acts only as a facilitator for amicable settlement of the disputes in a spirit of mutual accommodation and understanding,” Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. He was replying to a query by AP Rajya Sabha member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar on the status of pending issues between the two successor States.
The Minister said a large number of provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 had been implemented and the remaining provisions of the Act were at various stages of implementation.
Some of the provisions relating to infrastructure projects and educational institutions had long gestation period for which a time of 10 years had been prescribed in the Act, he added. The reply, however, came as a disappointment to the officials dealing with the reorganisation affairs who asserted that the Centre did precious little in taking the initiative to address the pending bifurcation issues between the two States.
“As many as 31 meetings have been convened so far but with little results. But for giving the definition of headquarter assets for which Andhra Pradesh expressed its dissatisfaction, the Centre did not take any initiative though nine long years passed since bifurcation,” a senior official said. He expressed concern that there were several sections in the Act that empower the Centre to take the initiative in case both States failed to arrive at a consensus, but there has been no such initiative coming forth. Section 82 of the Act dealing with the allocation of employees, for instance, says that the Central government could give directions to the two States as might appear to it to be necessary and the State government should comply with such directions.
Similar powers were bestowed on the Central government in Sections 71, 66, 64 and others, but the Centre has not acted on the issue so far. “The 10-year period for resolution of the bifurcation issues prescribed in the Act is set to expire in less than a year, but a majority of the issues remain unresolved. “The Centre, however, is harping on resolving the issues through mutual cooperation. Why was it given powers in the Act to take the initiative?” the official wondered.
