National

Hyderabad Blues

A tale of two bickering states and what they are fighting over

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Hyderabad Blues
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A recently erected fence separates the office blocks of the Telangana and the (residuary) Andhra Pradesh governments at the secretariat complex here. Fences are also coming up in people’s minds. The public, government employees, media persons, ministers, politicians and their hangers-on—every visitor is now getting bracketed strictly accor­ding to the blocks he or she is heading for and branded either ‘T’ or ‘AP.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu blames Telangana counterpart K. Chandrasekhara Rao (KCR) for the fence. “Are we in two different countries that barricades must be erected between the Telangana and AP blocks?” he asks. He is yet to start working from a new office in L-Block that has been earmarked for him. For now he uses the Lake View Guest House near the Raj Bhavan. The KCR government says it has nothing to do with the fence. The order (GO 426) to erect the fence was issued by Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan when the state was under President’s rule, says T. Harish Rao, Telangana’s power & irrigation minister. The governor’s office denies this.

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The fencing spat is just the tip of the iceberg. The Telangana-Seemandhra divorce is causing much bitterness. If it’s not KCR, either his son K.T. Rama Rao or other ministers are forever reminding the Andhra Pradesh government and its functionaries that they are simply guests in Hyderabad for the next 10 years. Otherwise, the governments bicker over power, river water sharing, the Polavaram national project, college fee reimbursement, student quotas, officers’ postings and land in Hyderabad. KCR and Naidu miss no opportunity to snap at each other.

“It is an unhappy situation,” agrees Andhra Pradesh minister for irrigation Devineni Umamaheshwar Rao, who goes through statistics on the water released from the Nagarjunasagar dam to four districts in Andhra Pradesh (Guntur, Krishna, Prakasam, parts of East Godavari) and pronounces it to be 3.47 TMC feet till July 8. The Telangana government has vehemently opposed the release of the dam water to the Krishna delta, saying Andhra Pradesh is using this water for irrigation rather than for drinking water supply. Even as it threatened to stop the release of water, Central Water Commi­ssion chair­man A.B.  Pandya had to inter­vene and ask dam officials to release 6,000 cusecs a day till Andhra Pradesh gets 3.6 TMC feet as its share of drinking water.

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Telangana irrigation minister Harish Rao has now demanded that 3 TMC ft water be released from the Nagarjuna­sagar left canal to meet drinking water needs in Khammam and Nalgonda districts. “The decision to release water to Andhra is unilateral,” he says, accusing Seemandhra lobbies of playing foul.

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Photograph by Tribhuvan Tiwari

Umamaheshwar Rao argues that the TRS, despite winning the elections, remains in  agitationist mode. “They are constantly provoking us but it will not help the people of AP or the government if we keep fighting. That is why I don’t want to sensationalise the issue,” says the AP minister, sulking in his chambers. A weak monsoon has automatically precipitated matters, since the Nagarjuna­sagar dam depends on inflows from the Almatti and Narayanpur dams in Karnataka.

The trigger to the water tussle was set off by Naidu, when he tried to cancel certain power purchase agreements  (PPAs) through the AP Power Generation Corporation. These PPAs were entered into when the state was united. But since many of the state’s power plants are in Seemandhra—the Narla Tata Rao power project (Vijayawada), Simhadri thermal plant in Visakhapatnam and the Rayalaseema thermal power project, for example—this would hit Telangana hard. Out of the two major hydel projects, one is in Rayalaseema (Srisailam) and the other, Nagarjunasagar, is in Telangana.

But both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are mainly dependent on coal for power. Several gas-based power plants continue to lie idle because of non-availability of gas. If Naidu were to cancel the PPAs, Telangana would face an immediate shortage of 615 MW. The Union government acted quickly even as Naidu was trying these drastic moves and stated categorically that the PPAs would hold. “The AP government has its own offices, assembly and secretariat in Hyderabad. Does it not need power to operate from here?” asked Telangana finance minister Etela Rajender.

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Political analyst Telkapalli Ravi says, “I really believe that the onus is more on TRS to act in a benevolent fashion.” But KCR continues to take an anti-Andhra  Pradesh stance, which is creating insecurity among citizens. “It is obvious that the Andhra government is dependent on Telangana for the time being—for water, power etc. But neither leader is coming forward to hold talks. It is a strange situation,” he says.

A recent circular from the Union government seeking to enhance the powers of governor Narasimhan has left the TRS government angry. The Centre wants the governor to have more control of law and order, internal security, government buildings and vital installations in Hyderabad. KCR has asked his MPs to stall Parliament over the attempt to deny control over law and order to a democratically elected government.

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The move came soon after the KCR government began a drive against unauthorised structures on government land, such as actor Nagarjuna’s convention centre on a gurukul trust’s land, reclaiming land allotted by previous regimes to the AP Film Development Corporation and the AP Non-Gazetted Officers Union, among others.

Naidu wrote to the Centre seeking protection of the interests of Seema­ndhra people in Hyderabad. While KCR’s moves are being viewed with wariness by Seemandhra citizens in Hyderabad, bureaucrats say he is going about governance in the right way. KCR recently met district officials, ministers and MLAs about adopting an inverted pyramid approach to ensure that benefits of schemes reach the poor.

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Naidu, who had earlier said that he would work from Guntur and spend more time in Seemandhra rather than Hyderabad is, however, showing signs of clinging to the mother ship. Just like the TRS, the Telugu Desam is also going all out to bag as many seats as possible in the municipal corporation elections.

Both KCR and Naidu are, however, in the same boat as far as fulfilling the primary poll promise of farm loan waivers is concerned. They are yet to deliver on this. While news is that the Reserve Bank of India might allow the loans to be rescheduled, it would mean a huge burden on the exchequers of both states. Some officials feel that the constant bickering between Naidu and KCR is actually deflecting the attention of voters from the grand promises the leaders made during elections. KCR, for example, has promised free education from KG to PG, two-bedroom houses for the poor and land for all farmers in Telangana. Naidu, on the other hand, has  constantly talked of raising cities like Singapore and Shanghai.

Both Naidu and KCR are still struggling to overcome their rivalry and work in unison to ensure proper governance in both states—which were one only a month or so ago.

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Some Stately Troubles

Water, power, Hyderabad itself—the fighting points

  • AP CM N. Chandrababu Naidu was walking out of the assembly building recently when some Class IV staff ignored him. Mediapersons were stunned because, as CM of undivided Andhra, Naidu had been well-respected.
  • The AP govt has demanded 10 TMC feet water from the Nagarjunasagar dam to supply drinking water to four districts in the Krishna delta region. Telangana says 4.18 TMC feet would suffice year around. Also says AP uses the water for irrigation.
  • Naidu threatened to cancel PPAs of Seemandhra-based power plants. This would have affected supply to Hyderabad. The Centre had to stop him from doing so.
  • Telangana is changing rules for nativity certification—and the Andhra government says this is meant to harass people from that state.
  • The Centre’s move to grant the governor greater power over police in Hyderabad has angered the KCR government. Naidu is said to have asked for this step.
  • Revenue-sharing between Telangana and AP from Hyderabad is 48:52 currently. Naidu wants a greater share now, saying AP’s finances are in poor shape.

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By Madhavi Tata in Hyderabad

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