Cabinet unlikely to mull over Telangana on Thursday

New Delhi: Telangana issue is unlikely to come up in the meeting of the Union cabinet on Thursday. A top home ministry official said no note has been prepared yet to be placed before tomorrow’s scheduled meeting of the cabinet to be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. After yesterday’s decision of Congress Working Committee to recommend to the Central government to form the 29th state, bifurcating Andhra Pradesh, it was widely speculated that the Cabinet will take up the issue in its next meeting.[caption id=“attachment_1000505” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rejoicing for Telangana. PTI[/caption] It is said the Cabinet has to initiate the process for the formation of Telangana by first creating a Group of Ministers (GoM) to go into economic issues on creation of the new state. The official said preparing a Cabinet note on such a far-reaching issue takes time and needs wider consultation and cannot be done in haste. There has been indication from the top government functionary that the Centre may wait for adoption of a resolution in Andhra Pradesh Assembly before the Union cabinet takes up the issue for consideration, the official said. Besides, creation of Telangana state will take close to six months as it involves a number of steps, including adoption of state Re-organisation bill by Parliament by a simple majority. When the Union cabinet takes up the Telangana issue, it will give an in-principle approval for creation of a Group of Ministers (GoM) comprising ministers of Home, Finance, HRD, Health, Irrigation, Power, Environment and Forests, Railways and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission to go into the economic issues on creation of the new state. The home ministry is likely to prepare the note to the Union cabinet for creation of Telanagana on the basis of the proposal received from the state government. The Ministry of Finance will also appoint an expert Committee to recommend measures for smooth transition in terms of financial management and viability of the reorganised state. In view of the normative economic factors that would operate in the remaining state of Andhra Pradesh consequent upon formation of Telangana state, a dedicated unit will be set up in the Planning Commission to deal exclusively with the re-organised state under the direct charge of the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission. The unit will ensure that, with the help of better financial management and adequate devolution of funds from the Centre, multifaceted development of the region takes place, especially with respect to core infrastructure. The Union home ministry will prepare another note for the Union cabinet with Re-organisation bill on the basis of the recommendations and suggestions of the GoM requesting the Union cabinet to approve the State Re-organisation bill and to recommend to the President to refer the Bill to the legislature of the state. After the second Cabinet meeting, the prime minister would recommend to the President that the draft Bill be referred under Article 3 of the Constitution to the State Legislature for their views to be given within 30 days. President would then refer the Bill to the State Legislature. Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly as well as the Legislative Council will then consider the Bill and give their views within 30 days. The recommendations of the State Legislature will be incorporated into the draft Re-organisation Bill and vetted by the law ministry. PTI