Telangana CM seeks Centre's help in resolving pending issues with Andhra

Reddy sought increased allocation for his state under the forthcoming phase of the PM Awas Yojana to build 2.5 million houses and the release of Rs 1,800 crore under the Backward Regions Grant Fund

Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to seek the Centre's help in resolving pending issues with Andhra Pradesh, setting up an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Hyderabad, improving power generation capacity and fulfilling promises made to the state in 2014. Telangana officials said Reddy's meeting with the PM lasted nearly an hour.

During his meeting with Shah, the home minister flagged the need to set up security camps for central security forces in some of the districts of Telangana where the CPI-Maoist is attempting to regroup and increase its influence. This Shah said after Reddy told him that the CPI-Maoist "is attempting to expand its influence by leveraging the favourable terrain in the forested hills along the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border”.

Reddy asked Shah for his intervention in resolving pending issues related to the Reorganisation Act, such as distribution of government buildings and corporations between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. He "emphasised the need for justice for Telangana in claims made by Andhra Pradesh over assets and institutions not mentioned in the Reorganisation Act”.

The Telangana CM met the PM and Shah on a day when his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu was also in the national capital to meet Modi and some Union ministers.

According to a Telangana government statement, Reddy sought fulfilment of the commitments made in the 2014 Telangana Act (Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act), including establishing a steel plant in Bayyaram and a coach factory in Kazipet. He also sought the removal of the Shravanapalli coal block from the auction list and its allocation, along with Koyagudem and Sattupalli Block 3, to the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), which was vital to meeting Telangana's power generation needs, the statement added.

Reddy's other demands included revival of the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) in Hyderabad to boost IT infrastructure. The project, initially approved in 2010, has been stalled since 2014. The Telangana CM requested the allocation of 2,450 acres of defence land to the state for infrastructure projects, including elevated corridors on the Hyderabad-Karimnagar and Hyderabad-Nagpur highways (NH-44). Reddy said the state government will offer land in Raviryal in exchange.

Reddy sought increased allocation for his state under the forthcoming phase of the PM Awas Yojana to build 2.5 million houses and release of Rs 1,800 crore under the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) for 2019-2024. He asked for the Centre's support in including Telangana in the India Semiconductor Mission, with several companies expressing interest in setting up semiconductor fabs in Hyderabad. He said an IIM could come up on a piece of land already available on the Hyderabad Central University campus.

In his meeting with Shah, Reddy said Telangana was allocated 61 Indian Police Service (IPS) posts in 2014, which are now insufficient for the state's needs. He sought an additional 29 IPS posts for Telangana. He sought the Centre's help to set up security force camps in Adilabad, Mancherial and Komaram Bheem Asifabad districts, similar to those in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, to counter Left-wing extremism (LWE).

Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu accompanied Reddy during the meetings.