Andhra, Telangana chief secretaries meet to discuss inter-state disputes

The meeting to discuss pending unresolved issues stemming from the bifurcation of the combined Andhra Pradesh state made no headway

The chief secretary-level talks between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states held on Monday to discuss long-pending unresolved issues stemming from the bifurcation of the combined Andhra Pradesh state made no headway, officials familiar with the matter said.

The meeting, that took place at Mangalagiri in Guntur district, was a follow-up of an earlier meeting held between Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu at Hyderabad on July 6 (ANI)

The meeting, that took place at Mangalagiri in Guntur district, was a follow-up of an earlier meeting held between Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu at Hyderabad on July 6.

A senior official of the Andhra Pradesh government said: “The meeting focused on key issues, including the division of assets under Schedules 9 and 10 of the AP Reorganisation Act, besides pending electricity dues between the two staes, inter-state employee transfers, and the distribution of professional tax revenues.”

“Additionally, there were deliberations on reimbursing expenses related to common institutions and the division of cash reserves of unallocated institutions. A significant topic was the ₹8,000 crore left unallocated in the bank accounts of institutions under Schedules 9 and 10,” the official said.

At least 91 corporations were listed as per Schedule 9 of the AP Reorganisation Act, of which there is a dispute between the two states over the assets belonging to 23 corporations, including Road Transport Corporation (RTC), state finance corporation and power generation and transmission corporations, the official said.

From Telangana side, the Monday’s meeting was attended by chief secretary Shanti Kumari, special chief secretary (finance) M Ramakrishna Rao, special chief secretary (home) Ravi Gupta, principal secretary (energy) Sandeep Kumar Sultania, and principal secretary for general administration department M Raghunandan Rao.

From Andhra Pradesh, chief secretary Neerab Kumar Prasad, finance secretary Janaki, principal secretary for home Kumar Vishwajit, principal secretary for excise Mukesh Kumar Meena and AP power generation corporation CMD Chakradhar Babu participated.

While Telangana argued that only the headquarters of a corporation should be considered for deciding the ownership, Andhra Pradesh insisted that all properties related to a corporation must be included.

Similarly, of the 142 institutions in Schedule 10 of the Act, there is a disagreement between the two states over 30 institutions, including Marri Chenna Reddy Human Resources Institute, AMR-AP Academy of Rural Development, Police Academy, and Telugu Academy.

Andhra Pradesh has been opposing Telangana’s claim that institutions should be allocated based on local jurisdiction as per Section 75 of the Reorganization Act.

The meeting also discussed the ongoing dispute between the two states over power dues. Andhra Pradesh claims that an amount of ₹3,441 crore is due for power supplied to Telangana between June 2014 and June 2017, with an additional ₹3,315 crore in delayed payment charges, amounting to a total of ₹6,756 crore.

Telangana, however, argues that Andhra Pradesh itself owes ₹17,828 crore to it, stating that Andhra Pradesh will still have to pay ₹12,940 crore even after adjusting the ₹4,887 crore dues to be paid to AP.

“Further discussions are expected to take place in the coming days to address these contentious issues,” the official quoted above said.