Even as the opponents of Telangana State were trying their best to delay the process, the State’s official machinery seems to have got down to the exercise of bifurcation.
While Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy called on President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtarpati Nilayam in Hyderabad and reportedly pleaded with him to keep Andhra Pradesh united, the State bureaucracy was busy in collecting the necessary data including the details of assets, liabilities and workforce of different departments and the public sector undertakings.
In a significant move, the General Administration Department has also issued instructions to the employees to provide details of their birth place, date of joining and pay scale among other things. It is understood that the services of the Government employees will be allocated to the State where they were born. This was one of the major demands of the protagonists of separate Telangana State that those born in Andhra and Rayalaseema will have to move to residuary State of Andhra Pradesh and only those born in Telangana will be accepted as the employees of Telangana Government.
Chief Secretary PK Mohanty has sent the copy of the draft State Reorganisation Bill to the heads of PSUs and the departments to go through the relevant schedules and act accordingly.
Officials said that though the political class was still divided on the issue of whether the Bill will be passed by the State Assembly or not, the bureaucracy was moving in a deft manner to keep everything ready by January 23, the deadline set by the President for completing the process by the State Assembly. Thereafter the Bill was expected to be taken up by the Parliament and the President will give his ascent to the bifurcation.
The issue of PSUs also assumed significance as draft Bill provides for dividing some of them between the two States while some others will be common for both the States. The issues related to the bifurcation reportedly figured during the one hour long meeting Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy had with President Pranab Mukherji on Sunday morning. Though officials described it as a courtesy call, sources said that the Chief Minister drew the attention of President to various problems which may crop up as a result of dividing the State.
Sources said that the Chief Minister briefed the President about the problem of drinking water, unemployment and drawing of the borders between the two States. He also raised the questions about the status of Hyderabad city before the President. The Chief Minister told the President that necessary details were also not there in the draft State Reorganisation Bill, sources said.
Chief Minister, a known opponent of Telangana State met the President at a time when the State Assembly has gone in to recess as the draft Bill was pending before the House. Meanwhile a delegation of Telangana Rashtra Samiti also met the President and urged him to ensure the completion of process of bifurcation without any further delay. The delegation, including MPs Manda Jangannadham and G Vivek and former Minister Vinod Kumar drew President’s attention to delay the process by stalling the debate in Assembly.