AP Reorganisation Act is deeply flawed
The AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 is flawed. It has denied AP a level-playing field. The Telangana government is behaving without any respect for laws. It has created many unnecessary controversies.
For instance, as per the AP Reorganisation Act, certain institutions were included in Schedule 9 and some others in Schedule 10. The third category of institutions, which were listed neither in Schedule 9 nor 10, would automatically devolve to the continuing state, that is AP.
For institutions under Schedule 9, a procedure has already been evolved and a committee has been set up for apportioning assets and liabilities. For Schedule 10 institutions no such procedure has been established and Section 75 of the Act says these institutions can continue to provide facilities for people of the other state without any bias.
The Act is vague as it only talks of provision of services but no plan for the bifurcation of the institutions. The Telangana government created a ruckus over the National Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (NITHM).
A senior bureaucrat of AP was prevented from entering the premises of the institute and had to hold a meeting on the pavement protesting against the Telangana government’s stand. Their claims that NITHM was located in Hyderabad, and therefore belonged to Telangana is against Schedule X of the Act.
A similar problem was created when a senior AP bureaucrat was manhandled and prevented from entering the National Academy of Construction (NAC) in which he was appointed the DG.
The Telangana government had appointed another IAS officer as DG of NAC. The Institute of Electronic Governance (IEG), which is a joint institution, was clandestinely taken over by the TS government.
We have said many times that any unilateral action with these institutions will seriously hit opportunities for AP people.
The AP Reorganisation Act states that assets would be divided on the basis of location, liabilities on the basis of the ratio of population and power based on consumption. This is unfair as the Act is loaded in favour of Telangana.
In the Srisailam Reservoir issue too, the Telangana government has refused to respect GO 69 and GO 107. It has also not respected the latest order of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB).
Water from the Left Bank Power House can be used only to offset peak load. It mandates that the 11,000 cusecs of water used to generate power should be pumped back on the same day.
The TS government did not respect this norm. The Telangana government’s latest allegations that AP Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Board have transferred funds from its offices in Hyderabad to Vijayawada are baseless.
The division of the Board had not taken place. Meanwhile, the Telangana government has constituted its own board. Therefore, it does not have the right to administer the existing Board.
Not a single penny has been transferred from Telangana to Andhra Pradesh. In fact '76 crore which rightfully belongs to AP is still parked in Telangana banks.
Palle Raghunadha Reddy, IT and Information minister of AP
Serious problems in dividing funds, assets
We have now entered the sixth month after the formation of the new state of Telangana. In these few months of our government, we have set many ambitious goals and we foresee many challenges in accomplishing them.
The people of Telangana are eagerly looking forward to us for realising their dreams. In order to make our government effective the administration and the organisational framework have to act in unison. Unfortunately, till date, the allocation of All India Service Officers to the states has not been completed.
There are serious problems between the two states regarding various corporations and societies listed under Schedule IX and X of the Reorganisation Act.
The spirit of the Reorganisation Act is that both states should continue to progress with their assets/liabilities and manpower divided amicably.
The various organisations in united AP have been grouped under Schedule IX or Schedule X and there is a rule for each Schedule regarding the state and the operations of these organisations. Contrary to the spirit of the Act, several incidents have occurred recently.
The recent transfer of Rs 420 crore by an officer of the labour department into the bank accounts of AP without the consent of the Telangana government is totally uncalled for. It is currently under investigation by the Telangana police. Similarly funds were inappropriately transferred from APSRAC into AP bank accounts.
This fund transfer from APSRAC into the AP bank accounts continued despite the Telangana government giving instructions to the concerned officers and the bank.
Several organisational and structural changes were attempted in the Mineral Development Corporation which has assets of Rs 800 crore, in NITHM and NAC secretly and we were successful in thwarting them.
There are about 45 organisations that are listed in neither Schedule IX nor Schedule X and AP claims that every single one of them belongs to it which is clearly not acceptable.
The GOs issued by united AP becomes null and void since there is no more united AP. So the AP government stand bases on old GOs has no validity. Even the society's registration acts clearly say that the organisations belong to the region where they were registered.
Our Chief Minister and our administration are very clear. We would like to respect rules and if there is any conflict of opinion, safeguarding the interests of the people of Telangana is our priority. On the same note, we would like the Andhra Pradesh government to respect the AP Reorganisation Act in letter and spirit.
A recent survey by Cushman and Wakefield indicates that Hyderabad is expected to witness a demand for an additional 300,000 units of power and this is primarily attributed to the political stability after formation of the state.
Several multinationals are expanding their presence in Hyderabad in a big way. We intend to supply tap water to every household in Telangana through the Telangana Water Grid in coming years.
Telangana has an acute power problem and we will try to make our state power surplus by 2018. These issues are of paramount importance to us. We do not want to waste our energies fighting others regarding the implementation of the Reorganisation Act.
K. Taraka Rama Rao, IT and Panchayati Raj minister of Telangana
