Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy stirred a hornet’s nest on New Year’s Eve by stripping minister and Telangana loyalist D. Sridhar Babu of the legislative affairs portfolio and allocating it to staunch integrationist Dr S. Sailajanath.
In a late night development on Tuesday, the Chief Minister recommended the change of portfolios to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan. The CM’s decision comes just before the state Assembly is be reconvened to “resume” debate on the AP Reorganisation Bill 2013, from January 3.
The ministry is very crucial at this juncture because the minister plays a decisive role in the running of the session.
Apparently to keep Sridhar Babu happy, the CM allocated commercial taxes in addition to civil supplies, which Sridhar Babu is handling.
The commercial taxes portfolio, the bread earner for the government, has been with successive Chief Ministers since 2009.
The CM created a new portfolio, “Language” (development), and allotted it to tourism minister Vatti Vasanth Kumar. Sources said this was done to make it appear that the changes were routine.
Once a trusted lieutenant of Kiran, Sridhar parted ways with him soon after the Congress Working Committee decided in favour of the T state. Lately, the two were at loggerheads over proroguing the Assembly and differences reached a peak in the just-concluded Assembly Session wherein Mr Sridhar announced that the Assembly had initiated the debate on the T Bill in contrast to the CM’s claims that the debate was yet to begin.
Kiran’s decision not democratic
Sources close to the Chief Minister said that he was upset with Sridhar Babu over the Assembly secretariat circulating a two-page “report on the decisions of the Business Advisory Committee” taken on December 17 to all MLAs. The report was issued in the name of the Chief Minister who, at a media conference, had feigned ignorance.
The Chief Minister’s decision is expected to evoke sharp criticism from within the Congress and outside and the Telangana ministers were already up in arms against the decision.
Senior Congress leader D. Srinivas described the Chief Minister’s decision as undemocratic and a timid act while Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao refused to attach any significance to it stating that proceedings in the Assembly were irrelevant to the state’s division as per the Constitution.
After keeping mum for sometime, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has once again raised voice against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to form a separate Telangana. He cautioned millions of farmers in Seemandhra and Telangana regions of the serious consequences of division of the state.
According to him, the bifurcation was done without addressing key issues of water, power and infrastructure, which could lead to deficit and bigger problems. He fears the lapses in water distribution would erupt.In Andhra Pradesh, the dams located in one region serve the needs of other region. For example, Srisailam dam is located in Rayalaseema, but it serves the irrigation needs of Rayalaseema, Telangana and Andhra regions. So, Kiran is worried as how can that waters be shared. Telangana comprises 68 pc of the catchment area of the Krishna river and 79 pc catchment area of Godavari river. Utilising these resources for the development of the region will be a big challenge for the state.Andhra Pradesh's major rivers include Godavari, Krishna and Pennar. According to the Krishna tribunal award, Maharashtra gets 560 tmc feet of water, Karnataka 700 TMC and Andhra Pradesh 811 TMC. The Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar dams are central to the Krishna river in Andhra Pradesh. (1 TMC equals 28.3 billion litres).The Nagarjunasagar dam is right on the border of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and caters to the irrigation needs of Andhra and Telangana. Kiran feels the new state would badly hit irrigation projects.Godavari is less exploited as compared with Krishna and most of the water flows into the Bay of Bengal. The Godavari Waters Disputes Tribunal in 1975 awarded 1,480 TMC to Andhra Pradesh, but proponents of separate Telangana are demanding more than 60 pc of that water share.As for agriculture is concerned, Seemandhra regions are better irrigated and account for 60 pc of total crops cultivated in Andhra Pradesh. Telangana has over 65 pc agriculture pumpsets. But with Telangana expected to face at least 40-50 pc power shortage, the irrigation projects will be affected.Currently in Andhra Pradesh, the power generation is only 57 million units per day against a demand of 115 MU. Though Telangana boasts of major coal deposits, Seemandhra has more gas-based stations with higher installed capacity of power. The Ramagundam thermal power station is in Telangana but is controlled by the Centre.Kiran accused TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao of misleading farmers with a promise to bring 10,000 MW from Chhattisgarh since the installed capacity of the neighbouring state was only 6300 MW.Before bifurcating the state, the Centre, Kiran feels, must have clarity on the status of Hyderabad, which several people from Seemandhra made their home after the formation of AP decades ago.Even as APNGO members are protesting against shifting of the secretariat employees to Seemandhra, Kiran rejected the TRS statistics and said out of 18,856 employees identified as non-locals under GO 610, 9,174 were repatriated and 4,062 were exempted as per the rules.As the capital of united AP for nearly 60 years, Hyderabad city has witnessed enormous growth and transformed into a large metropolis. In the process, many other regions of the State have been neglected. People from Andhra and Rayalaseema are heavily dependent on Hyderabad for health facilities, education and employment opportunities.
No comments:
Post a Comment