Promises made to Telangana under AP Reorganisation Act remain unfulfilled

BJP government at the Centre turned a blind eye to the commitments made under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act and gave a cold shoulder to people of Telangana

Hyderabad: Unfulfilled promises continue to haunt Telangana even nine years after its formation. The BJP government at the Centre turned a blind eye to the commitments made under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act and gave a cold shoulder to people of Telangana who are yet to be duly compensated for the decades of injustice meted out to its people.

Since the formation of Telangana, the Narendra Modi government presented nine union budgets in the Parliament and yet none of the promised projects under the Act have materialised. These include the railway coach factory in Kazipet, the steel plant in Bayyaram, tribal and mining universities, national project status for an irrigation project, and an increase in Assembly seats from 119 to 153. Further, the Centre failed to release pending funds amounting to Rs 900 crore under the Backward Region Grant Funds (BRGF) and has not fulfilled the bifurcation of institutions mentioned in Schedule 9 and 10 of the Act.

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Shortly after assuming office as the first Chief Minister of Telangana, K Chandrashekhar Rao visited Delhi with a list of assurances under the AP Reorganisation Act and the state’s wishlist, seeking the Centre’s support. However, these efforts resulted in empty promises without any concrete action. Despite the Chief Minister, his cabinet members, and TRS MPs consistently raising these issues, the BJP-led union government maintained a stoic silence while some BJP leaders in the State started blaming the Telangana government for the lack of progress.

Rather than honouring its promises, the Centre had often displayed discrimination towards Telangana. While it has been ignoring Telangana’s requests for sanction of national project status to either Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) or Palamuru Rangareddy LIS on the lines of Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh, it has granted the same status to projects in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, both governed by the BJP.

The State government, on its part, allocated 60 acres of land and released Rs 40 crore for the railway coach factory at Kazipet. In March 2016, the union government declared that there was no need for a new coach factory in the country. But shortly thereafter, the Centre agreed to establish a factory in Latur, Maharashtra, proposed four years after the Telangana project, eyeing to retain power in Maharashtra.

Another major unfulfilled assurance was the steel factory at Bayyaram. When the Centre expressed doubts about the quality of iron ore available at Bayyaram, the State government offered to transport it from Chhattisgarh and even allocated funds for a railway survey, but in vain. Further, the State was promised a tribal university and a mining university under the Act. The Telangana government has sanctioned 300 acres of land for the tribal university in Jakaram, Mulugu district, but the union government is yet to respond.

Lastly, the Centre has failed to resolve the inter-state river water disputes between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over the past seven years. Despite Telangana’s request for a 50:50 sharing of Krishna River water, considering its larger jurisdiction over the river, the Centre has not responded to this issue. Currently, Telangana receives only 299 TMC of the total 811 TMC, denying it of its rightful share of approximately 100 TMC per year. Only when the Centre honour’s its commitments to Telangana and initiates concrete actions at least in the last year of implementing AP Reorganisation Act, the State can unlock its full potential and pave the way for equitable development and progress.