Tirupati, Nov 14 (PTI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday requested the Centre to constitute a committee under the chairmanship of the Union Home Minister to resolve inter-state issues in a time-bound manner.

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In his inaugural address at the 29th Southern Zonal Council meeting in this temple-town, the Chief Minister regretted that all issues between AP and Telangana remained unresolved even seven years after the state was bifurcated.

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"For the country's overall development, the robustness of the Centre-State and inter-state relations is of paramount importance. I, therefore, emphasise the need to work towards a mechanism that ensures amicable and time-bound settlement of issues that exist between the parties," Reddy said.

The Chief Minister referred to several issues enshrined in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, including the grant of special category status to the state, that still remained unresolved, causing "immense economic hardships and deprivation."

"The state bifurcation was conditional on the commitment to accord Special Category Status. However, despite the passage of several years, that key commitment is yet to be honoured," he regretted.

"Post-bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the newly formed state of Telangana and the successor state of AP have several bifurcation-related issues that are yet to be resolved. Long pendency of these issues would not only force the states to endure a huge economic loss, but also have the potential to strain the relationship between the states," Reddy said.

He said it was imperative that a suitable solution emerged and the issues were addressed at the earliest.

The Chief Minister referred to the Centre's failure to bridge the resource gap for AP, approve the revised cost estimate for the Polavaram multipurpose project, complete the legal division of assets valued approximately at Rs 1,42,601 crore, as listed in Schedules 9 and 10 of the APRA, 2014.

"This is hampering their functioning and resulting in adverse impact for the state. The Central government's urgent intervention with respect to these matters is crucial to safeguard the interests of AP," the Chief Minister said.

The Chief Minister said the Telangana power distribution companies owed an amount of Rs 6,112 crore to the AP Power Generation Corporation for power supplied from June 2014 to June 2017.

The Union government "compelled" AP to supply power to Telangana but now the latter has taken a stand that the amount would be paid along with the demerger plan for electricity utilities.

"Since the power supply was based on the Centre's stand, I request its intervention for resolution of the problem as the AP Genco is financially stressed and struggling to meet its debt servicing requirement," he added.

Referring to another inter-state issue, the Chief Minister said AP has been supplying water to Tamil Nadu "as and when requested" to meet the drinking water needs of Chennai city.

The Tamil Nadu government owed Rs 338.48 crore for the past ten years for infrastructure and cost associated with operation and maintenance of Telugu Ganga project. "I request that suitable steps be taken to settle this amount at the earliest," Reddy said.

The Chief Minister pointed to the "inadequate coverage" of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, which "continues to trouble the state."

He said only 2.68 crore people were covered under the Targeted Public Distribution System, which was 61 and 41 per cent of rural and urban population respectively.

"This is grossly inadequate, considering the fact that at the national level 75 per cent of rural and 50 per cent of urban population is covered under TPDS. States like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka with robust public finances have at least 10 per cent more coverage than AP," he pointed out.

The state government was being "overburdened" as it was covering an additional 56 lakh families under PDS.

"I request that a comprehensive view be taken on poverty levels in the state and revisit and correct the state data for wider coverage of population under TPDS," the chief minister said.

"I request the Chairman of the Council to understand the plight of the people of Andhra Pradesh and make necessary recommendations to address our concerns," he summed up.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)