Nizamabad: Residents of 14 border villages between Telangana and Maharashtra are protesting against what they claim is Maharashtra’s attempt to merge these villages under its administrative control. This situation arose after Maharashtra’s Revenue Minister, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, announced that the state government had begun the process of annexing these 14 villages from Telangana. The Telangana state government has not yet responded to the border dispute.
Residents of the 14 villages plan to present their concerns to the district authorities and then outline their action plan to protest against Maharashtra’s claims. They argue that since the formation of separate Telangana, they have been receiving better welfare benefits from successive state governments.
The disagreement over the border dispute dates back to the establishment of United Andhra Pradesh. During the linguistic reorganisation of states, Maharashtra and Karnataka were created, and revenue records indicated that these villages were under the jurisdiction of the erstwhile Nizam’s state, as claimed by Maharashtra. However, United Andhra Pradesh rejected these claims, and the 14 villages remained under its administrative control, which was later transferred to Telangana when it became a separate state on June 2, 2014.
Andhra Pradesh cited the KK Naidu Commission to assert that the villages were under its administrative control, but Maharashtra rejected this claim.
Consequently, residents of the 14 villages have been receiving welfare benefits from both states. Nonetheless, Maharashtra’s assertion to take over these villages has caused resentment among the villagers. Currently, the border dispute is pending adjudication in the Supreme Court.
