Don't boycott us, Telangana panel tells JAC

(Courtesy : http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/feb/24/dont-boycott-us-telangana-panel-tells-jac.htm)

The Srikrishna Committee on the Telangana issue has said it would wrap up consultations with key stakeholders by July this year and urged the Joint Action Council, which is spearheading the agitation for a separate state, not to boycott it.

V K Duggal, member-secretary of the five-member Committee, who arrived in Hyderabad on Tuesday night to put in place the necessary infrastructure to start its work, said, "We will get enough material to give a balanced report".

Faced with the JAC's decision to boycott the Committee to protest against its Terms of Reference, Duggal hoped that responses would be forthcoming once the intent of the panel is understood.

"The proof of the pudding is in its eating. I am 100 per cent sure that when the people see the intention, even those who are boycotting (will support it). Once they see the purpose, I have no doubt we will get enough material to give a balanced report," he said.

Asked how the Committee would take the views of those who have boycotted it, Duggal said, "The voices will be counted as good response has already come. We have received 50 memoranda so far since February 20, when the public notice was issued. It is your option. I cannot force you. Once the intent of the Committee is known, the responses will be forthcoming," he said.

A fresh public notice could also be issued, with the approval of the Chairman of the Committee Justice B N Srikrishna, for seeking responses, he said.

The Committee will start holding consultations with various groups and political parties from the middle of March in Hyderabad and other places in the state on the issue of the creation of a separate Telangana state. The panel has asked the Andhra Pradesh government to make available infrastructure and other facilities for holding meetings in the state.
"These things have to be done before we start the consultation process in the middle of March. We will be holding consultations with all sections of people," he said.

Duggal said the Committee needs interpreters, stenographers, recorders, conference rooms and other facilities for carrying out its work in the state.

"The Committee also needs a place for holding consultations and meeting delegations from various organisations on the issue. All these issues have to be solved before the process begins," he said.

Duggal met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah in Hyderabad on Wednesday and discussed issues related to the five-member Committee's work. Sources in the Chief Minister's Office described the meeting as a 'courtesy' as Duggal was visiting the state for the first time since the constitution of the Committee.

"Duggal had a one-on-one interaction with the chief minister in the latter's chambers in the Council," a senior official in the CMO said.