Deadline for giving views on Telangana extended

The Committee for Consultations on the situation in Andhra Pradesh, headed by B N Srikrishna, today decided to extend the deadline for filing views on the contentious statehood issue, heeding to demands from various groups in Andhra Pradesh.

The panel had on February 20 issued a public notice in newspapers inviting suggestions or views from political parties, social organisations and other stakeholders in the state by March 31.

"On the request of certain groups and public, the committee has decided to extend the deadline for filing of views. April 10 will be the last date (for filing)," Justice Srikrishna told reporters here after the panel's fourth meeting. Panel's Member-Secretary Vinod K Duggal and other members were also present at the briefing.

There have been demands from various organisations and individuals in Andhra Pradesh that the deadline for submitting views should be extended.Srikrishna said the committee has so far received 14,000 representations from various organisations and individuals in the form of memoranda and letters.

The panel also appointed senior IAS officer Raju Sharma as its nodal officer. Srikrishna also said the committee has appointed five consultants to look into the representations being received and give a note on them to it.

The committee would start its consultation process with political parties and general public after April 10 and its next meeting would be held here on April 8. The committee has already started studying historical, constitutional, political, legal, economic, social and cultural aspects to give its view on the statehood issue.

The panel has been mandated to "examine the situation in the state of Andhra Pradesh with reference to the demand for a separate state of Telangana as well as the demand for maintaining the present status of a united Andhra Pradesh".

Other members of the committee are Ranbir Singh, vice chancellor of the National Law University, Delhi, Abu Saleh Shariff, senior research fellow in International Food Policy Research Institute, Delhi, and Rabinder Kaur, professor at the department of humanities and social sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi. The committee has been mandated to review the developments in the state since its formation and their impact on the progress and development of different regions.