KCR and Jagan sit to sort out reorganisation in Hyd

The crucial meeting between the chief ministers of sibling states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana has begun at Pragathi Bhavan in Hyderabad on Friday morning.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was received by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday morning when he came for the meeting which is happening after a gap of three years, that too in a proactive atmosphere after both the chief ministers agreed to resolve pending issues without further ado.

The meeting, which will break for lunch hosted by KCR, is attended by six ministers from AP and four from Telangana along with concerned officials. The deliberations will include the division of institutions mentioned in the ninth and tenth schedules of the 2014 Bifurcation Act. The problem has been pending even after the Sheela Bhide committee submitted a roadmap and after several meetings in the presence of Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi.

However, transfer of properties under schedule 5 of the Act, such as the Assembly and Secretariat buildings has been completed smoothly and the Telangana government has laid the foundation for a new Secretariat in the same premises. The Telangana government, in turn, agreed to give two or three buildings for the AP government in Hyderabad which can be used by the chief ministers or officials when they visit Hyderabad which is a common capital for ten years.

Similarly, the issue of division of staff between the two states is another such issue troubling hundreds of government employees who had roots in one state and posted in the other. The major issue that the chief ministers will be discussing threadbare is the issue of river water sharing. The KCR government has proposed linkage of Godavari with Krishna so that the dry tracts in parts of Telangana and Rayalaseema could be irrigated with Godavari water which is going waste into the Bay of Bengal.

The Chief Ministers will also discuss payments of dues from Telangana to AP with regards to the Rs 1,775 cr of civil supplies corporation.

The issue of allotment of Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi is yet another pending issue that needs the attention of the chief ministers. While the Telangana government, which has already given the Hyderabad House of the Nizam to the external affairs ministry, is arguing that the land where AP Bhavan stands now belonged to Telangana.