GoM on Andhra bifurcation to elicit views of political parties

The Group of Ministers set up to look into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, will meet representatives of various political parties here on Tuesday and Wednesday to seek their views on the way forward on the issue of bifurcating the state to create a separate state of Telangana.

Earlier, the GoM had sought the views of political parties on bifurcation, especially on the points of reference under its consideration, including allocation of assets and staff, sharing of river waters, on power distribution, education and health facilities.

Representatives from the Congress Party, BJP, CPI, CPM, Telangana Rastra Samithi, YSR Congress and MIM will be attending these meetings.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has decided not to attend the meeting, claiming that the Centre has failed to take all stakeholders into confidence on the issue.

The GoM is expected to submit its report on the issue of bifurcation to the union cabinet soon.

The Central Government had earlier this month reorganized the GoM, cutting its strength from 10 to seven ministers.

The members now include Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Veerappa Moily and Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh. Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy shall be a special invitee.

The Telangana region has an area of 114,840 square kilometres and a population of 35,286,757 as per the 2011 census, which was 41.6 per cent of the total population of Andhra Pradesh.

Telangana comprises 10 districts: Hyderabad, Adilabad, Khammam, Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Rangareddy, and Warangal. Bhadrachalam and Nuguru Venkatapuram Taluks of East Godavari district (part of coastal Andhra Pradesh), which are on the other side of the river Godavari were merged into Khammam district on grounds of geographical contiguity and administrative viability.

Earlier Aswaraopeta was also part of West Godavari District and added to Khammam District in the year 1959.

Similarly, Munagala mandal was added to Nalgonda district from Krishna district in 1959. The Musi, Manjira, Krishna and Godavari rivers flow through the region from west to east. Hyderabad and Warangal are two of the largest cities in Telangana.

The Congress Party had on July 30 this year resolved to request the Central government to make steps in accordance with the Constitution to form a separate state of Telangana (the 29th independent state of Republic of India), within a definite time frame.

The timeline for the creation of the new state involves an elaborate process, which has been allotted 122 days, or at least four months.

The city of Hyderabad would serve as the joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for ten years.

The proposal is to be approved by the Parliament of India and The President of India before the formation of new state.

On October 3, 2013, the Union Cabinet approved the creation of a new State of Telangana by bifurcating the existing State of Andhra Pradesh.