Centre red-signals railway zone for AP; bifurcation meet ends in stalemate

NEW DELHI: The all-crucial meeting convened by the Union Home Ministry to resolve the pending issues arising out of the bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh ended in a stalemate once again on Tuesday. This is the second such attempt by the Centre which failed to find a way forward to resolve the issues between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, a state that was carved out of it.

While the ambiguity persisted on most of the issues with both the states sticking to their respective stands, a few observations made during the meeting had poured cold water on the hopes of Andhra Pradesh. The Union Home Ministry reportedly made it clear to Andhra Pradesh in no uncertain terms that its demand for the creation of a separate railway zone in the state was not possible.

It further advised the Andhra Pradesh government to leave the matter to the Union cabinet to decide, reports claimed. In yet another jolt, the Centre had asked Andhra Pradesh to first furnish the details of expenditure pertaining to the Rs 1,500 crores that it had released to the state towards the development of the state capital. The retort came when Andhra Pradesh made a strong pitch for the release of an additional Rs 1,000 crores for this purpose.

The Union Home Ministry also remained non-committal when reminded about the Sivaramakrishnan Committee's recommendation that Rs 29,000 crores should be granted to the state for the establishment of the capital. The Andhra Pradesh Government has also faced stiff resistance from the Telangana Government which reportedly opposed every proposal mooted by the former.

Reflecting the overall mood, the meeting ended without arriving at a clarity on their next meeting to thrash out disagreements and find reasonable solutions to the bifurcation-related issues.