Hyderabad, April 5 – The government of Telangana has appealed to the Centre to pass a bill in Parliament to restore five villages that were merged with Andhra Pradesh in 2014.
Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao has written a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, urging him to table a bill during the current session of Parliament to re-merge the five villages with Telangana.
The state minister, who hails from the Khammam district, has demanded that the five villages near Bhadrachalam be restored to Telangana for administrative convenience. He has also highlighted the problems faced by tribal communities due to these five villages being under the control of Andhra Pradesh.
The demand for passing a bill to restore the five villages comes shortly after Parliament passed a bill to grant Amaravati statutory status as the only and permanent capital of Andhra Pradesh.
During the debate on the bill in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, MPs from Telangana raised the issue of the Telangana villages merged with Andhra Pradesh.
Nageswara Rao had met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu in February and requested that the five villages be restored to Telangana.
The minister had said after meeting the Chief Minister that Parliament had to pass legislation to return the five villages to Telangana.
He recalled that in 2014, the Centre had merged seven mandals from Telangana's Khammam district with Andhra Pradesh to facilitate the construction of the Polavaram project across the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh.
Nageswara Rao said that one has to cross these five villages in Andhra Pradesh to enter Telangana from the town of Bhadrachalam.
The minister said that the Assemblies of both states must pass resolutions urging the Centre to transfer the five villages to Telangana.
Rao had claimed that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu responded positively to the request.
The Telangana minister had also written letters to Amit Shah and Chief Minister Naidu in November last year.
He had urged the Centre and the Andhra Pradesh government to restore the five villages adjoining the temple town of Bhadrachalam back to Telangana, citing their "deep historical, religious, tribal welfare, and administrative significance."
"These settlements are geographically situated like an enclave between Telangana lands on two sides, with the Godavari river and reserve forest areas on the other, creating an administrative island and posing various challenges to both states," he said.