NITI Aayog mediates between Telangana and Centre

20 key issues flagged by state relating to various ministries were discussed in a meeting chaired by Arvind Panagariya

NITI Aayog plans to facilitate face-to-face consultations between state governments and Central ministries to clear all pending issues.

An experiment on this was made recently, when the Aayog brought together top officials from the newly-created Telangana state and Central ministries to resolve outstanding issues.

An official statement said around 20 important issues flagged by the state government relating to the ministries of coal & power; petroleum & natural gas; environment, forests & climate change; culture; finance; and rural development were discussed in the two-hour meeting chaired by Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya.

At the end of the meeting, nearly all but two or three issues could be resolved to the satisfaction of both sides, while substantial progress was made even on issues that could not be brought to full resolution during the meeting.

“It experimented with a new approach to the resolution of issues between states and central ministries by bringing the two sides face-to-face with the vice-chairman actively nudging them towards a possible solution,” the statement added..