Chandrababu Naidu assured the Telangana minister that they would examine the issues and AP is willing to cooperate. File photo
Two Telugu states work to resolve lingering post-bifurcation disputes
A Telangana minister's visit to his AP counterpart signals fresh momentum on solving disputes over border villages, irrigation projects and stalled infrastructure
Twelve years after the bifurcation of undivided Andhra Pradesh, the two Telugu states are making fresh attempts to iron out a clutch of long-pending inter-state disputes — from the status of villages transferred during the split to stalled irrigation and infrastructure projects straddling their shared border.
Telangana agriculture minister Tummala Nageswara Rao travelled to Undavalli on February 16 to meet AP Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu at his camp office — a meeting that both sides described as significant for bilateral coordination. Tummala, a former TDP leader, who shares a close rapport with Chandrababu, used the occasion to raise a series of unresolved issues that have festered since the 2014 division.
The village question
At the heart of the discussion was the status of five gram panchayats — Yetapaka, Kannaigudem, Picchikulapadu, Purushottapatnam and Gundala — located near Bhadrachalam, in the erstwhile Khammam district. The villages were transferred to AP during bifurcation, to ease the construction of the Polavaram project.
Tummala urged that they be reintegrated into Telangana, arguing that the decision had disrupted the cultural ties and livelihoods of local communities. Chandrababu is said to have responded positively, stopping short of a firm commitment.
Water and embankments
On the matter of irrigation, Tummala pressed for the release of 85 per cent of funds owed for service roads and improvement works on the Peddavagu project, which irrigates around 16,000 acres across both states, under an 85:15 AP-Telangana sharing arrangement.
He also called for urgent attention to pending service works on the Bhadrachalam Godavari embankment, which protects a town of considerable religious and historical significance.
Roads, railways and a Tirumala foothold
Tummala raised the slow pace of national highway and service road construction in border areas, and urged that work on the Sattupalli-Kovvur and Penuballi-Amaravati railway lines be expedited.
He also made an unusual request — that five acres of land be allotted to the Telangana government in Tirumala, to build a dedicated facility for pilgrims from the state.
Guarded optimism
Speaking after the meeting, Tummala said the two states could resolve their border issues quickly if they approached them through sustained, high-level consultation.
"If these are sorted out through coordination, it will benefit the Telugu people," he said. Chandrababu assured him that the matters would be examined and that AP would cooperate.
Political observers say the meeting reflects a broader thaw in relations between the two states, even as the structural disputes thrown up by bifurcation remain far from fully settled.
Whether the goodwill translates into concrete action will be watched closely on both sides of the border.
This article was originally published in The Federal Andhra Pradesh.
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