Date for response from stakeholders on Telangana extended

The Justice Srikrishna committee appointed to look into the issue of statehood for Telangana today extended the date for receiving views and suggestions from political parties and other stakeholders on the various terms of reference put out by it till April 10.

The decision was taken in view of requests that "some more time is required as the issues involved require in-depth study and examination".

"The committee has considered the requests made and agreed to extend the date for submission of responses by April 10," said member-secretary of the committee Vinod K. Duggal in an advertisement published in leading dailies in the capital Monday.

The one-month period for submitting views and suggestions expired March 21, Sunday.

The five-member committee, formed after violent agitations by political parties and student organisations for carving out a separate Telangana state, also requested stakeholders to furnish the details at the earliest so that it "can start holding consultations" with the parties, organisations and groups concerned "as quickly as possible".

The committee, mandated to "examine the situation in the state of Andhra Pradesh with reference to the demand for a separate state of Telangana as well as the demand for maintaining the present status of a united Andhra Pradesh", is slated to submit its report to the central government by Dec 31.

The other members besides Justice Srikrishna and Duggal are Ranbir Singh, vice chancellor of the National Law University, Delhi; Abu Saleh Shariff, senior research fellow in International Food Policy Research Institute, Delhi; and Rabinder Kaur, professor at the department of humanities and social sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi.