Will Hyderabad become UT? - TeluguPeople.com News

HYDERABAD: If the UPA government has its way, Hyderabad will be a Union Territory for a period of 10 years, rather than a joint capital for the prospective Telangana and Seemandhra states.

Besides being a Union Territory, Hyderabad would also be the capital for Telangana region, while the rest of Andhra Pradesh would have a separate capital which would be either Visakhapatnam or Vijayawada, reports from New Delhi said.

Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde went on record in New Delhi on Monday that the note on formation of Telangana would come up before the Central Cabinet within 20 days. Cabinet note on Telangana ready within 20 days; Vizag or Vijayawada to be Seemandhra capital

Shinde said the Home Ministry was preparing a note to pass a resolution in the Cabinet. 'After we finalise the note, it will be sent to the Law Ministry for legal vetting. I hope the note will be presented before the Cabinet within 20 days,' the minister told media persons.

Sources said the draft note on Telangana would come up before the Cabinet on September 17. After the cabinet clears the resolution, a Group of Ministers will be assigned to examine concerns on how to divide water, electricity and revenue between Telangana and Seemandhra regions.

The entire process would be completed in the next couple of months and the Telangana Bill would be placed before Parliament during the next monsoon session in December.

Reports quoting sources in the Home Ministry said the draft Cabinet note suggested Hyderabad as the Union Territory and also the capital of Telangana for a specified period of 10 years, while Seemandhra region, which would continue with the name of Andhra Pradesh, would have a separate capital of its own.

'The capital city of Andhra should have an airport; hence, it could be either Vishakhapatnam or Vijayawada,' sources said.

If the reports are to be believed, the Central government has dropped the plan to make Hyderabad as a shared capital between Telangana and the rest of Andhra Pradesh for a period of 10 years, with it resting with Telangana after that.

However, there is no clarity on the jurisdiction of the proposed Union Territory of Hyderabad ' whether it is confined just to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits, or that of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), which extends into neighbouring Ranga Reddy and Mahbubnagar district limits. 'We are in the process of making wider consultations,' sources said.

Sources said that given wide protests in Seemandhra over the bifurcation of the state, the government has changed its original plan to send the resolution to the state legislature for feedback before the cabinet studies the plan.

Eventually, the government will introduce a bill to create a Telangana state; both houses of Parliament will have to pass the bill by a simple majority.