Amaravati, Feb 16 (IANS) Telangana Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu here on Monday and requested that five villages, which were merged with Andhra Pradesh in 2014, be restored to Telangana.​

Nageswara Rao told media persons after meeting the Chief Minister that Parliament has to pass legislation to return five villages to Telangana.​

He recalled that in 2014, the Centre had merged seven mandals from Telangana’s Khammam district with Andhra Pradesh to facilitate the construction of the Polavaram project across the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh.​

Nageswara Rao, who comes from Khammam district, said one has to cross these five villages in Andhra Pradesh to enter Telangana from Bhadrachalam town.​

The minister said that the Assemblies of both states must pass resolutions urging the Centre to transfer the five villages to Telangana.​

Rao said the Chief Minister, Naidu, responded positively to the request.​

According to an official statement released by the Andhra Pradesh government, several issues that require coordination and cooperation between the two states were discussed at the meeting. ​

Nageswara Rao believed that the people of the Telugu states would benefit from the completion of projects like roads, irrigation projects, and railway lines in the border areas of the two states. He explained the details of the projects to the Chief Minister.

The Telangana minister said that these issues will be resolved through high-level consultations between the two governments.​

In November last year, Nageswara Rao had written letters to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Naidu. He had urged the Centre and the Andhra Pradesh government to restore five villages adjoining the temple town of Bhadrachalam back to Telangana in view of their “deep historical, religious, tribal welfare and administrative significance.”​

“These habitations are geographically positioned like an enclave between Telangana lands on two sides, with the Godavari river and reserve forest areas on the other, creating an administrative island and posing various challenges to both states,” he said.​

Rao said that over the last decade, there have been persistent representations from residents, particularly from tribal communities, urging that these villages be restored to Telangana.​

–IANS

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