Promise of infra sops to Seemandhra

 The Telangana Bill cleared by the Union Cabinet has several infrastructure sops for the Seemandhra region, which did not find a mention earlier, a move seen as a bid to placate people opposed to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

The residuary state will have a Petroleum University, National Institute of Disaster Management, steel plant in YSR district and a metro rail network, says the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Bill.

Efforts will also be made to upgrade Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati airports to international standards.

These are part of the 32 amendments, which the Centre will move when it is tabled in Parliament.

The residuary state will also get an IIM, IIT, IIIT, NIT, IISER, tribal university, central university, an AIIMS-type superspeciality hospital-cum-teaching institution and an agricultural university by 2023.

Telangana will have a Tribal University and a Horticulture University, according to the proposed 13th schedule of the Bill.

In a politically interesting move, the government also proposed that Steel Authority of India should examine the feasibility of establishing an integrated steel plant in YSR district, formerly known as Kadapa. The district was named after former chief minister Y S Rajashkehar Reddy. The YSR Congress, led by his son Jaganmohan Reddy, has staunchly opposed the bifurcation of the state.

SAIL will also examine within six months from the formation of the new state the feasibility of establishing a similar steel plant in Khammam in the Telangana region.
According to the amendments that will benefit Seemandhra, the Centre will also examine the feasibility of a metro rail facility in Visakhapatnam and the Vijayawada-Guntur Tenali Metropolitan Urban Development Authority within one year from the date of bifurcation.

The Centre will also take measures to establish rapid rail and road connectivity from the new capital of the successor state of Andhra Pradesh to Hyderabad and other important cities of Telangana.

The amendments have put a timeline for considering and taking a decision on several infrastructure projects.

A decision on the already announced plans on having a railway zone for Andhra and a rail coach factory for Telangana will have to be taken within six months of the bifurcation.
A one-year deadline has

also been set to examine the feasibility of the Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor along
the lines of the existing Delhi-Mumbai Industrial corridor.