THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday urged Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to settle their pending issues, as it would not only benefit the people of their states but will also lead to all-round development of the southern region.
Shah was speaking at the 30th meeting of the Southern Zonal Council held in the Kerala capital. He called upon all the member-states to find a joint solution to the issues related to sharing of water and headlining these were the Cauvery issue between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and the Krishna river water sharing dispute between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
At the meeting, the TS government raised serious objection over the recent Union power ministry directions asking the state discoms to pay Rs 6,756 crore as power dues to Andhra Pradesh within a month. The TS delegation termed the orders ‘unilateral’ and ‘unconstitutional’ and asked why Telangana’s representations on AP power utilities owing Rs 12,000 crore were not considered.
The delegation also took strong objection to the Centre delaying Telangana’s share in Krishna water even eight years after the formation of the state.
Telangana was represented by home minister Mohd Mahmood Ali, special chief secretary, finance, K. Ramakrishna Rao, irrigation engineer-in-chief B. Hariram, TS Transco JMD C. Srinivasa Rao, Additional DGP Swathi Lakra and other officials.
In the meeting, 26 issues were discussed pertaining to southern states, of which nine issues were resolved. Another 17 issues were reserved for further consideration.
Among the nine issues were those related to the disputes between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over the non-implementation of the provisions of the Andhra
Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, sharing of Krishna water, bifurcation of assets and liabilities of common institutions listed under Schedules IX and X of AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, located in Hyderabad, among others.
Later, in a media statement, Mahmood Ali said that the TS delegation had registered its severe concern over the inordinate delay in implementing the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act. He hoped that the Centre would take all the issues raised by TS in the meeting into consideration and take immediate steps to resolve the pending issues between TS and AP.
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