Make Hyd joint capital only for three yrs: TJAC

Memorandum submitted to GoM on bifurcation issue.

• Thousands of crores diverted to Seemandhra
• Special package for higher education in T
• T State should have full rights on Hyderabad
• Article 371 (D) should not be an obstruction
• Don’t concede demands to make Hyd a UT
• Hyd law & order should be vested in T State
• T State should have all rights on Singareni
• Polavaram construction should be stopped
• Use Ramagundam power for Telangana only

The TJAC on Saturday submitted a list of 11 recommendations to the GoM on various issues pertaining to bifurcation of the state.

Releasing a copy of the report, TJAC chairman Prof M Kodandaram said they had demanded that Hyderabad should not be joint capital for more than three years. The report also said even issues like and law order should not be vested with the centre as was being speculated.

The TJAC demanded full rights on Hyderabad under the administration of Telangana state. Hyderabad, it said should be ‘functional capital’ for two to three years. TJAC made it clear that Article 371 (D) should not come in the way of carving a new state.

The report said, if Seemandhra demands to make Hyderabad a Union Territory or make some other arrangement with features similar to a UT are accepted by the Centre, then it will open a Pandora's Box. Non-Maharashtrians will demand similar arrangements for Mumbai on the ground of insecurity due to Shiva Sena. Non-Bodos will also make similar demands regarding Bodo-dominated areas in Assam and so on. The Centre should, therefore, be alert to such undesirable consequences of giving in to untenable demands. The TJAC felt that Article 371 (D) is an independent provision unrelated with the formation of a State or in alteration of its name or boundaries. The said Article was, therefore, inserted only for ensuring the removal of regional disparities within the State of Andhra Pradesh and for providing a mechanism for the same.

The JAC clearly opposed the taking away of the policing responsibility from the new State under any pretext. It however advocated that Centre must function as an impartial referee and trustee of the transition process. The JAC also demanded absolute rights over Singareni in order to correct the historical injustice done to the region. TJAC urged the GoM not to disturb the congruity achieved after the delimitation of constituencies and stood test of the time. JAC said it would ensure that Telangana state would abide by all the legally binding allocations by Tribunals as far as the water allocations were concerned.

It also urged the halting of the construction of Polavaram project as it would post rehabilitation and reconstruction and ecological challenges because of large scale submersion.

The JAC further demanded that the power from the Ramagundam thermal plant should be allocated 100 per cent to the Telangana state only as was done in the case of Simhadri NTPC which supplies power to the Andhra region.

Among other demands was full repatriation of the employees of the other regions from the Telangana after the formation of the state. “All the violations as pointed out by the One Man Commission (OMC) headed by J M Girglani have to be rectified and all non-locals have to be repatriated to Andhra Govt. in order to do full justice to the employees of Telangana State,” the report said.

The assets of Telangana prior to November 1, 1956 (the day of formation of Andhra Pradesh) both immovable and movable should continue to vest with Telangana and these may not be taken into account as common assets to be distributed, the report said.

Referring to the apprehensions of Seemandhra people regarding the injustice done to them in Hyderabad educational facilities, the report said that they were baseless. In fact it is the Telangana region that was deprived of higher education facilities during the last 57 years. Thousands of crores were diverted to Seemandhra area at the cost of Telangana people. Hence, the TJAC demand that a special package to higher education in Telangana region with the help of Central Government be given after bifurcation of the state.

In view of the division of the State, a common High Court will present different problems on the administrative side and in administrative supervision. Supervision within the two States many have to be artificially demarcated between the Judges of the respective States.

The TJAC told the GoM that Telangana State would abide by all the legally binding allocations by Tribunals. It said that the new State which would be facing serious power shortage would require about 15 MMSCMD of natural gas for the power sector.

T JAC co-chairman Mallepalli Lakshmaiah, who prepared report pertaining to Hyderabad status, said that they would not agree to Hyderabad being a joint or common capital for 10 years. Hyderabad could be a shared capital for administrative purposes for not more than two to three years. Extending this duration is not good even for Seemaandhra public since nobody would desire a capital to be in isolated area at least 250 km from its boundaries on all sides, he felt. Employees JAC leader C Vittal, who prepared report on employees’ interests, said that service register should form the basis for relocation of all government employees who flouted services rules to get postings in Telangana region. TNGO leader G Deviprasad said that Article 371(D) should be continued to be applied in the Telangana state after bifurcation. He said that any effort by the government to send recommendations on government staff without their consent or opinion would be opposed strongly.

Advocate JAC leader G Rajender Reddy, who prepared report on High Court subject, said that both states could have separate High Courts after division since the number of cases is almost similar. He pointed out that residuary state of Andhra Pradesh could set up its High Court in Guntur and separate benches in Visakhapatnam and Kurnool.

TJAC leader Pittala Ravinder, stated that Singareni is the lifeline of Telangana.

Telangana Electricity Employees JAC co-ordinator K Raghu demanded that power should be allocated to Telangana region based on Gadgil Formula and Government Order (G.O)-53.

Telangana Lecturers Forum president Kathi Venkataswamy said that a report on higher education was prepared by the JAC even though it was not included separately in terms of reference (ToR) included in the Cabinet Note. It is a fact that there are a very large number of state institutes imparting higher education in Seemandhra when compared to Telangana. The apprehensions raised by Seemandhra politicians on higher education are not correct, he said.