Telangana bill with all documents sent to Delhi

Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Bill 2013, which seeks to carve out a separate Telangana state, was Monday sent to the Centre along with the report on the debate in the legislature and also resolutions passed in both the houses rejecting the bill.

The documents including the views expressed by the legislators, their suggestions and amendments were sent to Delhi by a scheduled Air India flight in the early hours of Monday amid tight security.

About 35 bundles, weighing about 500 kg, were shifted from state secretariat to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and from there loaded on the aircraft, officials said.

The material will be handed over to union home ministry. The Group of Ministers (GoM) on Telangana, at its meeting in Delhi Tuesday, will go through the legislature’s views and suggestions for incorporating them into the bill. The cabinet will then forward the finalized bill to President Pranab Mukherjee for forwarding the same to the parliament.

The assembly and council Jan 30 had passed by a voice vote official resolutions rejecting the bill and requesting the President not to forward the bill to the parliament.

However, it took three days for officials to compile the views expressed by the legislators while participating in the debate. The officials of the legislature got translated speeches made in Telugu and Urdu into English. Majority of the legislators had submitted their views, suggestions and amendments in writing.

Speaker N. Manohar had announced that that proposals for amendments and expression of views in writing by the members numbering 9,072 were received. According to officials, 50 copies of the documents were sent as sought by the union home ministry.

Legislature Secretary Raja Sadaram Sunday handed over the bill along with all the documents to Chief Secretary P.K. Mohanty. The latter held meetings with other senior officials and finalized the arrangements for sending the entire material to Delhi. They are also believed to have briefed Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, whose covering letter, was also reportedly enclosed.