10 years after bifurcation, several issues remain unresolved between Telangana & Andhra

June 2 marks a decade of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

As Hyderabad ceases to be the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on Sunday, unresolved issues between the states persist.

The Lok Sabha passed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014 on February 18, 2014, and the Rajya Sabha on February 20, 2014, following a prolonged struggle.

Asset sharing

However, the asset sharing between the two states detailed in Schedules IX and X of the Reorganisation Act of 2014 still stands unresolved. Even now, both states are fighting in tribunals for their 'legitimate' and 'rightful' share of Krishna and Godavari waters.

While Schedule X listed training institutes that the two states must share, Schedule IX listed the division of state public sector units. The division of 22 PSUs, out of 91 PSUs, remains unresolved.

The act distributes assets according to their location and debt, and liabilities according to population.
The total fixed asset value of 245 institutions that are to be shared between the states has been pegged at Rs 1.42 lakh crore. The headquarter assets of institutions under Schedule IX were valued at Rs 24,018.53 crore, while those under Schedule X were valued at Rs 34,642.77 crore.

The then-union government had appointed an expert committee on the distribution of assets and employees between both states, headed by Sheela Bhide. The Andhra Pradesh government accepted the Sheela Bhide Committee's report, but the Telangana government objected to it.

The committee proposed a formula for dividing state PSUs, with recommendations favoring both states in different contexts.

However, in 10 years, both states could only agree on the division of Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in New Delhi and the allocation of more than 60,000 state cadre employees.

Out of 91 PSUs, the division of 22 PSUs still remains unresolved. Besides, a dispute continues between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over Rs 6,756.92 crore in dues that Telangana was asked to pay by the Centre for the supply of power post-bifurcation from June 2, 2014, to June 10, 2017.

After the bifurcation, both states were to share 811 TMCFT of water from the Krishna in a 34:66 ratio.
Telangana objected to this and demanded a 50:50 between the two states from 2021–22 until the finalisation of the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal award.

Joint capital

According to Section 5 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, after 10 years of bifurcation, Hyderabad will be the capital of Telangana only.

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has recently directed officials to take over buildings like Lake View Guest House in Hyderabad, which were allotted to Andhra Pradesh for 10 years.
He also instructed the officials to submit a comprehensive report on the matters pending under the Reorganisation Act.

“Though technically Hyderabad is the joint capital of both the states with no administrative power, it has had little or no advantage over Andhra Pradesh in the last 10 years. In terms of unresolved issues, this situation has been present even in previous cases of state bifurcation before Andhra Pradesh, and it continues to persist today. Now, with all these issues, Andhra Pradesh has approached the Supreme Court, and we will have to wait and see what will happen,” Andhra Pradesh's first chief secretary and retired senior bureaucrat, IYR Krishna Rao, told DH.

Meanwhile, there was a demand from Andhra Pradesh to retain Hyderabad as the common capital for some more time.

In February, Jagan's top aide, Rajya Sabha member YV Subba Reddy, stirred controversy by stating that Hyderabad should remain the joint capital until the state administration shifts to Vizag from Amaravati.

KT Rama Rao stoked controversy in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, saying that the BJP, an ally of the TDP in Andhra Pradesh, if voted to power again will make Hyderabad a Union Territory and a permanent capital for both states.