Telangana committee holds first meeting

Srikrishna confident of meeting Dec deadline

Briefing reporters after holding the first meeting of the panel, Justice Srikrishna said it discussed a roadmap to proceed in accordance with the terms of reference.

“We have chalked out certain plans. We propose to have interaction with all sections of the society as soon as possible”, Justice Srikrishna told reporters at the end of the three-hour long meeting.

The five-member committee will visit Hyderabad and other places soon.
Among the main tasks of the panel is to examine the demands for both a separate state of Telangana and a unified Andhra Pradesh.

The committee is likely to have its next meeting in Delhi on February 25. “We will hold discussions with all stakeholders”, Justice Srikrishna said.

Asked about the protests both in favour of and against dividing AP, the former Supreme Court judge said: “We will ascertain all views. We will also hold a series of meetings with different strata of people in the affected areas”. 

He added: “I am not worried about protests. We will do our job and present the report and it is for the government to take a decision.”

To a question on whether the tenure of the committee would be like that of the Liberhan panel on Babri Masjid demolition, which got many extensions, the former judge said he had headed many panels in the past and completed the task “in two-thirds time”. “You can examine the records,” he remarked.

As the meeting began, seven students, including some girls, tried to stage a protest outside its venue, Vigyan Bhawan, but were detained by the police. There was a huge police presence outside the meeting venue.

V K Duggal, member-secretary of the panel, said the committee will have an “administrative support system” in Hyderabad.