Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan recently asked Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, YS Jaganmohan Reddy, to hold bilateral talks on the Andhra-Odisha border dispute.Against this backdrop, he wrote a letter to the AP CM asking him to intervene immediately to resolve the problem of the Kotia villages.
The letter read that both the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh state governments personally intervene in the interests of the residents of the two states.The Chief Secretaries suggested that bilateral talks be held between the CMs of the two states to formulate a future roadmap for resolving the issues, along with joint-working group discussions at the level of Development Commissioners.
Also, in the letter, the Union Minister said they would extend their one hundred per cent support to resolve the dispute peacefully.Kotia village panchayats in the Pottangi block of Koraput district in Odisha state have witnessed several clashes over the past few months, which have now spread to other border villages in Gajapati.
However, on the other hand, recently, the Andhra Pradesh state government held panchayat elections in Kotia.Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan mentioned in the letter that the Odisha government had deployed police and set up barricades at Kotia to curb further tensions at the border.
