Andhra Pradesh bifurcation was unscientific, undemocratic: Guv Nazeer

Amaravati, July 22 (IANS) Andhra Governor S Abdul Nazeer said on Monday that the state was bifurcated unscientifically and undemocratically and that the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 did not compensate the residual state enough for the loss of prosperity and development opportunities. 

Stating that there were patent inconsistencies of distribution of assets and liabilities, the Governor, in his first address to the joint session of Assembly and Council after formation of the NDA Government claimed that scientific criteria was not adopted for apportionment.

“While the residual state inherited huge revenue deficit, debt was shared on population basis; assets on location basis; power sharing on consumption basis; and worst of all, educational institutions with no basis,” he said.

The Governor explained that these factors led to a structural change in economy with reduction of services sector from 51 per cent to 44 per cent. The per capita income too, fell from Rs. 1,06,176 for the combined state, to Rs. 93,121 for Andhra Pradesh.

“The united Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated unscientifically, undemocratically, and without adequate consultation with stakeholders. This has left an indelible mark on the minds of people of residual State of Andhra Pradesh. The turbulence caused due to multiple state reorganisations, and the resultant disruptions, have deprived the Andhra people of a sustained long period of development and progress,” he said.

The Governor recalled that due to the supreme sacrifice of Amarajeevi Potti Sreeramulu Andhra Pradesh was formed as the first linguistic state on October 1, 1953 with Kurnool as its capital.

Thereafter, the state was reorganised on November 1, 1956 and Telugu speaking parts of Hyderabad state were made into the combined Andhra Pradesh with Hyderabad as the capital.

Accordingly, a lot of Telugu people moved to Hyderabad.

“Again, in June 2014, the people of Andhra Pradesh were forced to undergo another reorganisation of their state, the most damaging experience of all,” he said.

He claimed that the state’s bifurcation has imposed an unprecedented strain on its economy.

“There are patent inconsistencies in distribution of assets and liabilities. With 58.32 per cent of the combined state population, the unscientific bifurcation caused the state to inherit only 46 per cent of the resources; financial loss on account of loss of Hyderabad city; disproportionate debt burden; loss of access to public institutions; loss of National Institutions, Government of India PSUs & institutions of higher learning, etc.”

The TDP-led coalition government has raised the issue of bifurcation days after it resumed efforts to resolve the post-bifurcation issues with the Congress government in Telangana.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu met his Telangana counterpart A Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad on July 6.

The meeting, attended by some ministers and top officials from both sides, decided to constitute a high-level committee to resolve post-bifurcation issues pending for the last 10 years.