BackTelangana, Andhra Pradesh bifurcation: 3 years later, 241 govt bodies yet to be divided
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have different views on how the assets and employees of these government bodies should be divided
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Hyderabad: Three years after Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh, the two states are yet to come to an agreement on the division of 241 government corporations, companies and institutes.
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh became separate states on 2 June 2014.
Most of the government corporations, institutes and companies listed under schedule 9 (89) and schedule 10 (142) of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 are located in Hyderabad or have their headquarters there.
With Andhra Pradesh and Telangana having different views on how the assets and employees of government bodies should be divided, decisions are yet to be made, leaving employees with a sense of uncertainty. The two states also interpret the Act differently.
While state government companies and corporations such as AP State Seeds Development Corp. Ltd and Andhra Pradesh Housing Board come under schedule 9, training institutes and other centres such as the AP Forest Academy, State Board of Technical Education and Training and the State Institute of Educational Technology are listed under schedule 10.
With regard to schedule 9, while the Andhra Pradesh government insists that the assets and employees should be divided based on the population ratio of 58:42 (of both states) in accordance with the AP Reorganization Act, the Telangana government has maintained that employees be divided based on where they belong.
As of now, there seems to be some progress with regard to the schedule 9 list. The Sheela Bhide committee, tasked (by the government of India) with dividing 89 institutes and corporations, gave recommendations for dividing about 60 of them some months ago.
The proposals are currently being examined, said a senior official from the Telangana government, who did not wish to be named.
A senior official from the Andhra Pradesh government said that only 35 of the proposals are being considered.
“We will only consider those that include division of both assets and employees. The Telangana government relived 1,200-odd electricity department employees from their duty in 2015, saying that they are from AP," said the Andhra Pradesh official, who didn’t want to be named, adding that the matter of those employees was taken to court and is yet to be resolved.
An official from Telangana, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that if nativity is not considered, then many senior positions in the state will be occupied by people from Andhra Pradesh.
The real problem perhaps lies in dividing the 142 departments under schedule 10. The reason behind the deadlock is that the Telangana government wants to divide them based on their location (meaning that it would get most of them), which Andhra Pradesh has not agreed to.
On Telangana’s demand that employees be divided on the basis of nativity, the Andhra Pradesh official mentioned above said, “It is convenient for Telangana to say that because those departments are in Hyderabad. But all the institutes were built using resources from both sides in the past."
Officials from both sides declined to comment on how much money in total is at stake or how many employees are to be divided between both the states.
“It can be done on an institution-by-institution basis, as it is not necessary that only one solution fits all. It will take more time to solve this issue," said the Andhra Pradesh official.
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