Ten years after bifurcation, thorny issues remain

Hyderabad: The siblings states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have quarrelled over several issues over the decade after the formation of Telangana on June 2, 2014. Ten years down the line, with Telangana set to celebrate its first decade on Sunday, clarity on where some of these issues stand continues to elude both states.

This is true particularly with reference to sharing of river waters – from the Krishna and the Godavari – and on some issues relating to electricity supply and who has to pay how much to whom.

There are several other unresolved issues including division of assets under Schedule 9 and 10 of the AP Reorganisation Act, including the division of assets of 22 public sector units out of 91 public sector units under Schedule 9.

There is been a dispute that is hanging fire, but in the courts, over whether Telangana has to pay residuary AP some `7,000 crore for electricity it received from its sibling state. For now, Telangana has a breather with the state High Court granting a stay on its plea and telling the Centre not to use any coercion to force the payment.

Discussions on these have paled against the high-decibel political battles, mostly within Telangana, over sharing of river waters, particularly that of Krishna.

At the heart of this issue is the allocation of Krishna water to the two states, that was set at a ratio of 66:34 between AP and Telangana, with the two states getting 511 and 299 tmc ft respectively out of 811 tmc ft allocation that existed for unified Andhra Pradesh. Though this interim ad-hoc arrangement has stood so far, the two states are unhappy with it and Telangana insists that before a final award is given by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal II, the share should be fixed at 50:50.

Amidst this, heated political battles between the BRS and Congress parties have been waged over the last one year in particular on how Telangana ‘mortgaged’ its interest and gave all the power to Krishna River Management Board to decide on who gets how much water. These battles were fought during the election campaigns, both for Assembly and the Lok Sabha, in the Assembly, and in countless press meets by both sides with accusations flying thick and fast that the other side is responsible for handing over the river, and its management to KRMB.

While some of these disputes will still take some time to resolve, the political fights over these are not expected to end anytime soon.