Hyderabad, Aug 6 (IANS) Members of the Srikrishna committee, looking into demands for and against separate statehood to Telangana, will travel by train next month to seek the opinion of the people.
The five-member committee headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna will travel from Shadnagar town in Mahabubnagar district to Kadapa in September. The committee will stop at different places both in the Telangana and Rayalaseema regions to feel the pulse of the people.
Srikrishna, a former Supreme Court judge, said at a press conference that the panel would undertake a ‘padyatra’, or a walkathon, if necessary, to interact with people.
The press conference was also addressed by other committee members, who wound up a three-day visit to Hyderabad for a final round of consultations with various groups.
Member secretary of the committee V.K. Duggal said 99 percent of the consultations were complete and the report would be submitted before the Dec 31 deadline.
On the last day of the committee’s visit, 16 ministers from Andhra and Rayalaseema met the panel, opposing the idea of division of Andhra Pradesh. The ministers led by Endowments Minister G. Venkat Reddy said the formation of a separate Telangana state would not be in the interest of the people of all regions.
During the three-day visit of the committee, legislators of the Congress party from Rayalaseema and Andhra also met the committee, opposing the demand for a separate Telangana state. They told the committee that the problem of Telangana’s backwardness could be solved through talks and that Andhra Pradesh should not be divided on such ‘minor issues’.
The central government had formed the Srikrishna committee after four-month-long violent protests for and against a separate Telangana state.
