I have received a mail the other day arguing why Telangana must be carved out of AP. The mail has listed a number of reasons for splitting Andhra. I did a bit of research on the points and below are my findings.
Let me say beforehand that I am a staunch and unequivocal supporter of united Andhra Pradesh. Nothing can change my opinion regarding the matter.
Original Mail
Why Telangana ?...........Pls Know the Facts...
Please note that the below points were discussed in a blog...I just used here for educating the people.....
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi All,
Whenever the topic of Telangana is raised, many of us blindly support Andhra or Telangana based on where we come from. Not sure how many really think of why the demand for separate state has been there for such a long time. The 2 major reasons why the demand has been pending for so many years is WATER AND HYDERBAD. People around the state have earned and invested in and around Hyderabad so there is a concerns about the safety of the investment if the state is separated while both the major rivers in our state flow mostly through Telangana. Below are some facts that are few reasons for the demand. Sentiments can be foolish but not facts.
1. There are 10 districts in Telangana, 9 in Andhra and 4 in Rayalaseema. Out of these 7 districts in Telangana, 3 in Andhra and 1 in Rayalaseema are considered severely backward districts which means 70% of districts in Telangana are backward while in Andhra it is 35% and in Rayalaseema it is 25%. Apart from these there are some areas in all parts of the state which are also backward.
2. 45% of the state income comes from Telangana region. When it comes to utilization of funds, the share of Telangana is only 28%.
3. Normally canals are dug to supply water to the crops from rivers for cultivation. The amount of land cultivated through canals in just Guntur district is more than the land cultivated with canals in entire Telangana region.
4. Nagarjuna sagar dam is built in Nalgonda district which is in Telangana but majority of the water from the dam is used for Krishna and Guntur district. The original dam was supposed to be build much ahead of its present location but the location was changed so that it falls in the Telangana region. Due to the construction of the dam several hectares of Lime stone mines vanished as part of the dam back waters. Everyone know that lime stone is used for producing cement. Even the natural resources were not allowed to remain.
5. Fluorinated water problem is only in Nalgonda district which has not been resolved since decades.
6. Two major rivers Krishna and Tungabhadra enter the state of AP in the district of Mahaboobnagar(the biggest district in Telangana) but the district always remains the worst draught hit areas along with Anantapur because there is no project and process with which the water can be utilized. The plans for utilization has been pending for decades.
7. RDS (Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme) is build in Mahaboobnagar to provide water to 85000 hectares of land in the district. The leaders of Rayalaseems blasted the gates of RDS and water is supplied to KC (Kurnool-Cudapah) canal while only remaining water, if any, is supplied to the lands in Mahaboobnagar.
8. 3 TMC of water from Gandipet is sufficient to supply drinking water to our city. Every year 1700 TMC of water is wasted and is flown into Bay of Bengal from river Godavari. Starting from Nizambad to Bay of Bengal there is no project allowed to build on Godavari. If it is built leaders in Godavari districts fear that the fertile lands in the area may fall short of water. If the Godavari water is utilized properly, there will be no scarcity for food grains in our state.
9. In Telangana regions, only few areas cultivate one crop a year and very rarely two crops a year while most of the land doesn't even cultivate single crop. In both the Godavari districts, Krishna and Guntur district, two crops a year is common and there are times where even 3 crops a year are cultivated. The only reason is WATER.
10. Government issue G.O.'s for implicating its decisions. G.O number 610 is the longest non implicated G.O in the history of AP. The G.O was issued in 1986 by late NTR who was then the CM of AP, which is not yet implicated. The G.O speaks about the share of Telangana employees in Government jobs in Telangana region.
11. 33% of the population in Mahaboobnagar district have left the district for livelihood to different parts of the state due to draught and majority of them are working as daily labour. No other district has so many people who fled the home place due to lack of livelihood and working as daily labour.
12. There are 25 plus government degree colleges in Krishna, Kadapa and Guntur district while there is not even a single government degree college in Ranga Reddy district.
13. Dairy development corporation of AP purchases milk from farmers across the state for distribution. For the same milk, in Andhra, the government pay Rs. 24 to the farmers and in Telangana they pay Rs. 22 per litre. Partiality is shown even in milk.
14. In between 2005-2008 government sold lands worth Rs. 20000 crores in and around Hyderabad which was utilized to build projects in Rayalaseema and Andhra.
15. Not even a single project was completed in Telangana in the last 5 years while several projects were completed in Andhra and Rayalaseema.
My Answers
1. There are 10 districts in Telangana, 9 in Andhra and 4 in Rayalaseema. Out of these 7 districts in Telangana, 3 in Andhra and 1 in Rayalaseema are considered severely backward districts which means 70% of districts in Telangana are backward while in Andhra it is 35% and in Rayalaseema it is 25%. Apart from these there are some areas in all parts of the state which are also backward.
2. 45% of the state income comes from Telangana region. When it comes to utilization of funds, the share of Telangana is only 28%.
a. Good statistics. Cannot argue against them without more data.
3. Normally canals are dug to supply water to the crops from rivers for cultivation. The amount of land cultivated through canals in just Guntur district is more than the land cultivated with canals in entire Telangana region.
a. Districts of Guntur, Krishna and Godavari are geologically and Pedologically more fertile than Telengana. Telangana area, which is a rain shadow region, is comparatively less fertile than Guntur and hence it is not surprising that there is more cultivable land in Guntur.
4. Nagarjuna sagar dam is built in Nalgonda district which is in Telangana but majority of the water from the dam is used for Krishna and Guntur district. The original dam was supposed to be build much ahead of its present location but the location was changed so that it falls in the Telangana region. Due to the construction of the dam several hectares of Lime stone mines vanished as part of the dam back waters. Everyone knows that lime stone is used for producing cement. Even the natural resources were not allowed to remain.
a. This is not because of any prejudice to Telangana. History will tell us that construction of Nagarjuna sagar was started in 1956 which is also the year of formation of AP State. Construction of Nagarjuna Sagar was first proposed by the British in 1903 and the project location was decided after much deliberation of the matter. It is hard to believe that there was a conspiracy to drown a small limestone mine (which probably fetches a few crores a year) when discussing the construction of a dam which is the first of its kind in entire world.
b. This can be argued in another way too. Had the dam been constructed down river, then the backwaters of Sagar dam would not have been in Telangana at all. Presently, all the stored backwater percolates into the earth and significantly boosts up the ground water in the surrounding areas. It is Telangana districts that are getting benefited by this. According to the above allegation, Andhra has lost the advantage of never dropping water table to sink a small limestone mine.
5. Fluorinated water problem is only in Nalgonda district which has not been resolved since decades.
a. I am not under-estimating the suffering of Nalgonda residents. But I want to counter question – Is the Fluorine problem a conspiracy of Andhrites? What are the elected MLAs and MPs of Nalgonda doing all these years? They too were allocated their quota of funds just like any other MLAs or MPs in any part of India. A Fluorine treatment plant can very well be set up with the funds which they have at their disposal and they are at liberty to do so. If they have not, then it is their failure. Why are you not catching and questioning them? Without correcting the lethargy of your local leaders, what good is to be achieved in simply passing the blame on to Andhrites?
6. Two major rivers Krishna and Tungabhadra enter the state of AP in the district of Mahaboobnagar(the biggest district in Telangana) but the district always remains the worst draught hit areas along with Anantapur because there is no project and process with which the water can be utilized. The plan for utilization has been pending for decades.
a. Again, what are your local leaders doing about this? Why have they kept mum? Earlier, There were chief ministers hailing from Telangana area. Dr. Chenna Reddy was a prominent leader of Telangana movement. Why have they not launched any projects in Telangana?
b. That point not withstanding, a number of projects have been started by late chief minster Dr. Y.S. Raja Sekhar Reddy in Telangana too. They have been launched and are progressing fast. The argument that there are no projects in Telangana is not valid anymore.
7. RDS (Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme) is build in Mahaboobnagar to provide water to 85000 hectares of land in the district. The leaders of Rayalaseems blasted the gates of RDS and water is supplied to KC (Kurnool-Cudapah) canal while only remaining water, if any, is supplied to the lands in Mahaboobnagar.
a. To this, I humbly agree. But I would like to point out that, the problem was caused by Karnataka state by over utilizing its allocated share of water.
8. 3 TMC of water from Gandipet is sufficient to supply drinking water to our city. Every year 1700 TMC of water is wasted and is flown into Bay of Bengal from river Godavari. Starting from Nizambad to Bay of Bengal there is no project allowed to build on Godavari. If it is built leaders in Godavari districts fear that the fertile lands in the area may fall short of water. If the Godavari water is utilized properly, there will be no scarcity for food grains in our state.
a. Gross misrepresentation of facts!!! The reason for not building projects on Godavari is purely technical. From an Engineering point of view, there are very very few places on Godavari where a dam can be built. I shall not discuss the technical details of it but I point out to history.
i. When the entire length of Godavari was scaled in search of suitable project site, Polavaram was identified to be a feasible location for diverting Godavari waters into Krishna. This was decided in 1942 before we attained independence. Please see this link http://www.sakti.in/godavaribasin/indira-klrao.htm
b. Polavaram project is not a regular water storage project like Srisailam or Nagarjunasagar. It's purpose is to divert water and there by link two rivers.
c. Construction of this project will result in submersion of 1500 Hectares of Madhya Pradesh and 1000 hectares in Orissa. Those state governments are not agreeing to this. This is the main reason for the project not being approved by Central Water Commission. There is no conspiracy against Telangana here.
9. In Telangana regions, only few areas cultivate one crop a year and very rarely two crops a year while most of the land doesn't even cultivate single crop. In both the Godavari districts, Krishna and Guntur district, two crops a year is common and there are times where even 3 crops a year are cultivated. The only reason is WATER.
a. Admirably summed up. We have already discussed this above in 6a and 6b.
10. Government issue G.O.'s for implicating its decisions. G.O number 610 is the longest non implicated G.O in the history of AP. The G.O was issued in 1986 by late NTR who was then the CM of AP, which is not yet implicated. The G.O speaks about the share of Telangana employees in Government jobs in Telangana region.
a. Please check the government jobs which are being filled up. Ever since this GO was issued, jobs are being filled in strinct accordance to this ratio/percentage. This GO contains two parts
i. Filling up of jobs according to an agreed % - This is being done.
ii. NGOs should work only in the Zones to which they belong. NGOs working in non-native zone must be transferred back to their native zones. This is not completely done owing to humanitarian grounds. Transferring employees long settled in a district all of a sudden is unethical. Rayalaseema and Kosta districts too have a number of Telangana NGOs. This applies to entire state.
11. 33% of the population in Mahaboobnagar district have left the district for livelihood to different parts of the state due to draught and majority of them are working as daily labour. No other district has so many people who fled the home place due to lack of livelihood and working as daily labour.
a. Considering points 3a, 5a and 7a, this cannot be blamed on Andhrites. This is because of the incapability of the local representatives of Telangana.
b. The people of rest of AP have not objected to Mahaboobnagar people settling down in their areas. Don't you think this is due to a feeling of fraternity? Is this fraternity visible among people of other states? We are seeing how Biharis are being attacked in Mumbai.
12. There are 25 plus government degree colleges in Krishna, Kadapa and Guntur district while there is not even a single government degree college in Ranga Reddy district.
a. Can someone throw light on this?
13. Dairy development corporation of AP purchases milk from farmers across the state for distribution. For the same milk, in Andhra, the government pay Rs. 24 to the farmers and in Telangana they pay Rs. 22 per litre. Partiality is shown even in milk.
a. Milk procurement rate changes from district to district. This is based on the negotiations of individual groups and not based on location/area.
b. The government diary is practically non-existent in Chittoor. This is not a Telangana district. What do you have to say to that?
14. In between 2005-2008 government sold lands worth Rs. 20000 crores in and around Hyderabad which was utilized to build projects in Rayalaseema and Andhra.
a. Untrue. As part of Jalayagnam, 26 projects were launched in Telangana. Where as only 22 were in Andhra area and 11 in Rayalaseema. Please check this link
http://jalayagnam.org/index1.php?action=priority
http://jalayagnam.org/index1.php?action=priority
15. Not even a single project was completed in Telangana in the last 5 years while several projects were completed in Andhra and Rayalaseema.
a. Untrue again. Devadula, Ali Sagar Lift Irrigation Scheme & Alimineti Madhava Reddy Projects are complete. They are being constructed in Telangana area only. Andhra area had 5 projects finished and Rayalaseema has one. Please check this link
http://jalayagnam.org/index1.php?action=results
http://jalayagnam.org/index1.php?action=results
My Conclusion
వచ్చిండన్నా వచ్చాడన్నా వరాల తెలుగు ఒకటేనన్నా
తెలుగు జాతి మనది నిండుగ వెలుగు జాతి మనది
N. Gopi Krishna
