New Delhi: The NITI Aayog today termed Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao‘s decision to avoid its 7th Governing Council meeting to be held on August 7, 2022, as “unfortunate”. It claimed that the allegation of the Telangana CM that States were not co-opted in preparation of the agenda was “incorrect”.
Earlier on August 5, 2022, Rao conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi his decision to stay away from the 7th Governing Council meeting of the Aayog “as a mark of strong protest against the present trend of Union Government to discriminate against the States and not treating them as equal partners”.
Following is the letter by Rao:
The Aayog though claimed that despite requests made by NITI Aayog for a meeting, the Chief Minister “did not respond”. It further stated that in preparation for tomorrow’s Governing Council meeting, detailed consultations between the Centre and States, including Telangana, were held resulting in the first National Chief Secretaries Conference held in Dharamshala in June 2022. The Conference was a culmination of a six- month long deliberations wherein all States/ Union Territories including the Chief Secretary of Telangana participated.
With reference to the Water sector, over the last 4 years, the Government of India allocated Rs.3982 core under the Jal Jeevan Mission for Telangana. “However, the state chose to draw only Rs. 200 crores. In addition, Rs 1195 crores were released to Telangana under PMKSY-AIBP-CADWM during 2014-2015 to 2021-2022,” the Aayog stated.
In the last year alone more than 30 meetings were held with the Chief Ministers of States by the Vice Chairman/ Members of NITI Aayog. “These meetings have resolved a number of issues pertaining to the states with various Central Ministries and paved way for greater collaboration between NITI Aayog and States,” it stated.
The Governing Council of NITI Aayog is a forum where the country’s highest political leadership at the Centre and State levels deliberate on key development-related issues and agree on appropriate outcome-oriented solutions for national development. The government of India through all the Ministries as well as the office of the Prime Minister has been interacting with States/ UTs on all issues of national importance, the Aayog said.
– global bihari bureau
