Telangana will be born on June 1, says home secy

AP treasury to be divided to create consolidated funds for the new states

It’s now official. Telangana, the 29th state of India, will be born on the midnight of June 1 and the division of the consolidated fund of both the states will be created with the division of the Andhra Pradesh treasury.

The two-day visit of the task force headed by Union Home secretary Anil Goswami categorically directed the state officials including the chief secretary that there would be no extension of time sought by some of them and that the new state will be born on the said date without fail. 

“Keep all other work aside, recruit additional staff if necessary and also ensure strict compliance by all concerned,” was the firm directions by Goswami who held last round of review with Chief Secretary P K Mohanty before he left for Delhi.

The home secretary reviewed the progress made by committees set up for files transfers, assets, buildings, land, boundaries, treasury and employees. 

“Don’t bother about education and state level public sector industries. They can be divided even after bifurcation. There is no room for any changes. The bifurcation has to be completed as per the regulations and Act passed in the Parliament,” he said while asking the officials to follow the precedents set up in carving out of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.

Goswami’s assistants — Rajeev Sharma and Suresh Kumar — have been reviewing the progress and functioning of all the 15 sub-committees and also whether they were following the election code as well. Both were assisted by a team of three senior officials in the review process.

The Centre has also set up a committee headed by former Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha for division of all India service cadres in Andhra Pradesh between the Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh state.

 Goswami said the Sinha committee will function in consultation with ex-IAS officer Kamalanathan who is heading the apex committee in Andhra Pradesh for bifurcation agenda. Kamalanathan  who has set up his office in the Secretariat is supervising the bifurcation process on a daily basis.

 Goswami who held a marathon meeting with Kamalanathan on Wednesday  said that  Prathyush Sinha will  take up distribution of IFS, IAS and IPS officers.

The 1969 batch official had played a crucial role in Bihar division and creation of Jharkhand in 2000. His performance as Vigilance Commissioner had led to exposure of the 2G spectrum scam. 

On the last day of his visit to Hyderabad, Goswami also held a prolonged meeting with the DGP B Prasada Rao and senior IPS officials on the issue of police force deployment in both the states. The exercise will be taken up after the counting of votes on May 16.