Cabinet serves pure Telangana

• GHMC area of Hyd will serve as joint capital for 10 years
• Rejects demand to make Hyd a Union Territory
• T Governor entrusted with the job of safety and security of all people
• Heated argument by Seemandhra ministers Kavuri, Pallam Raju
• Rayala Telangana proposal did not find any mention in the Bill
• Azad from Kolkata insisted that the government should go by the CWC resolution

New Delhi: Strictly adhering to the CWC resolution, the Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared the Telangana Bill with 10 districts and Hyderabad as the capital. The GHMC area of Hyderabad will serve as a joint capital for the period of 10 years. It rejected the demand for the Union Territory status to Hyderabad and entrusted Telangana Governor with a responsibility of ensuring the safety and security of all people. The Telangana Governor will be assisted by two advisors.

An Experts Committee will be set up, charged with the responsibility with identifying the venue for the new capital for the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh within a period of 45 days. An institutional mechanism will be put in place to manage the projects on Krishna and Godavari rivers and other water resources issues. Work on Polavaram project will be expedited while Article 371-D will continue in both the states. The existing quotas in educational institutions will continue for 10 years and the Centre will assist the economic development and expansion of infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh. The Centre will also help augment the police forces.

The Bill will now be forwarded to the President with a request to refer the same to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly under Article 3 of the Constitution. The time-frame stipulated by the President will determine when the Bill will come to Parliament.

Sources stated that Ghulam Nabi Azad, who did not attend the GoM meeting on Wednesday, had spoken separately to all the GoM members pressing them to go by the CWC resolution and to reject the Rayala Telangana proposal.

The Core Group met early in the day to approve the proposal of Telangana with 10 districts and later directed Home Minister Shinde to make the necessary changes. Shinde and Jairam worked on the new Cabinet note that was placed before the Cabinet in the evening.

The decision on the separate state of Telangana was announced by Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde after a marathon 3-hour Cabinet meeting which witnessed heated arguments from the Union Ministers belonging to Seemandhra region. In fact, the Seemandhra Ministers got agitated from the word-go when the Cabinet note on Telangana was placed before them. Textiles Minister K S Rao was the most vociferous in arguing the case for the Seemandhra region protesting that it will ruin the state. He said that the safety and security of the people would be endangered and the bifurcation would trigger problems relating to water sharing for irrigation and power.

About the Polavaram project, he argued that no guarantee was forthcoming from the Cabinet about early clearances and completion of the project. He was countered by Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, who told him that their hands were tied down due to the Supreme Court rulings.

After K S Rao, HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju chipped in and passionately presented the case for keeping the state united as the division, according to him, would help nobody. Both were furious that Hyderabad was not accorded Union Territory status.

Despite all the efforts put up by all the Seemandhra Ministers in resisting the move, they found themselves in a minority as most of their colleagues in the Cabinet including the members of the GoM were firm on their recommendations. Sources stated that Panchayat Raj Minister V Kishore Chandra Rao who also spoke briefly had more or less reconciled himself to the bifurcation of the State.

The lone Cabinet Minister from Telangana, Jaipal Reddy, talked about the agitation for separate Telangana spanning six decades and tried to justify the decision for bifurcation. It is learnt that only one proposal came from the GoM and that was for Telangana with 10 districts. The earlier note prepared by the GoM which favoured 12 districts in Telangana including two districts from Rayalaseema-- Kurnool and Ananthpur-- did not find any mention in the Cabinet note.

Highlights of the Bill

1. Telangana will comprise 10 districts and the successor state of Andhra Pradesh will comprise 13 districts.

2. The common capital, for a period not exceeding 10 years, will be the existing Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area.

3. The Governor of Telangana will have special responsibility for the security of life, liberty and property of all those who reside in the common capital area. The Governor may be assisted by 2 advisors to be appointed by Government of India.

4. The Government of India will extend financial and other support to the creation of a new capital for the successor state of Andhra Pradesh to be identified by an Expert Committee.

5. The Government of India will assist the 2 successor states in augmenting their police forces for maintaining public order.

6. Institutional Mechanisms with the full involvement and participation of Government of India will be put in place to manage water resources and projects on Krishna and Godavari in an amicable and equitable manner. Polavaram will be declared a National Project and will be executed by Government of India following all environmental and R&R norms.

7. Detailed provisions have been made in the Bill on matters relating to Coal, Power, Oil and Gas, division of assets and liabilities, allocation of government employees.

8. Article 371-D will continue for both the successor states to ensure equitable opportunities for education and public employment.

9. Existing admission quotas in higher technical and medical institutions will continue for a period not exceeding 10 years

10. The Government of India will take special measures for the economic development of both the successor states, including expansion of physical and social infrastructure and establishment of national institutions in the successor state of Andhra Pradesh and GoI will assist in the setting up of a Tribal University in both States.