Group of Ministers on Telangana to submit report in 6 weeks

A day after the Union Cabinet cleared the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to create Telangana, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Friday said a 10-member Group of Ministers (GoM) would give its report

within six weeks comprising recommendations on various crucial issues, including the boundary of the new State, so that the bill on the new State could be tabled in Parliament in the winter session.

The GoM includes Ministers for Home, Finance, Law, Water Resources, Human Resource Development, Urban Development, Road Transport and Highways, Power and Personnel Ministers, besides the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman. It would make recommendations on the boundaries of Telangana, division of bureaucracy and sharing of assets and resources, including river water and irrigation projects.

The Cabinet note says that the GoM would “work out the various legal and administrative measures to ensure the safety and security of residents of all the regions of the State.” The GoM has also been mandated to “go into the various issues which concern both States (Telangana and Andhra Pradesh) and suggest appropriate measures to address them.” It will also “work out the modalities for provision of special financial disbursements required for the setting up of a new capital for the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh and to meet the special needs of the backward regions and districts of the two States.”

Since the Cabinet has recommended that “the city of Hyderabad will function as the common capital for both the States for a period of 10 years,” the GoM would have to look into the legal and administrative measures required to ensure that both State governments function efficiently from Hyderabad. The GoM will also study issues related to law and order in the region.

Asked about rising protests in Seemandhra following the Cabinet decision, Mr. Shinde said such protests were “natural.” “We will take them [protesters and leaders] into confidence. After all, wherever there is bifurcation of any State, such feelings are there. It is natural…No one can avoid these. We will try to console them,” he told journalists.

The Minister denied that the Congress was trying to take political advantage by creating a new State. “We have not seen any profit for the Congress while taking this decision. It was a Congress commitment and we have fulfilled it.”

Referring to demands for the creation of more States, he said the government had no such plans. “Now we have considered Telangana. Nothing more than that.”

Mr. Shinde rubbished claims that the Maoist problem might increase in Telangana once it comes into existence. “The Naxal problem is there. But Andhra Pradesh is one State where we have done excellent work in curbing Naxalism. I am quite confident that even after the formation of Telangana, the government will check the activities of Naxalites.”