The State government is gearing up for presenting a strong case in support of its stand on the provisions of the AP State Reorganisation Act 2014 ahead of the meeting convened by the Union Home Secretary on January 12.
The meeting has ostensibly been called for resolution of differences between the two Telugu States that remained unresolved since bifurcation in 2014.
A major thrust of the meeting is expected to be on irrigation projects where Andhra Pradesh complained about the excess use of Krishna water by Telangana and the latter lodging a strong protest about the projects on Krishna water proposed by AP that are detrimental to the interests of Telangana.
It was in this background, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has convened a preparatory meeting of senior officials on Monday to finalise the agenda that should be presented in the Jan 12 meeting.
River water sharing is expected to be the major agenda of the meeting but the AP government is likely to raise other issues relating to bifurcation as could be seen from the memorandum submitted by AP Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
The Chief Minister directed the officials concerned led by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to explain to the Centre that Telangana was committed to implementation of the provisions of the Reorganisation Act.
The government would abide by its commitment to implement the provisions of the Act as long as there was reciprocation from the neighbouring State and it would not compromise on the interests of Telangana under any circumstances.
The Chief Minister said AP government was creating “unnecessary controversies” in the implementation of the Reorganisation Act as could be seen from the demands for seeking share in Singareni Collieries Company Limited that was located in Telangana.
