New Delhi:
Mayawati has been asked by the Centre to explain the details of her plan to divide Uttar Pradesh into four states.
In November, the UP Assembly passed a resolution announcing that the state would be carved into Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Awadh Pradesh and Paschim Pradesh. The Chief Minister said the huge size of UP makes efficient governance impossible. Reports suggested that Uttar Pradesh's public debt is likely to touch Rs 2,04,000 crore in 2011-12 against Rs 1,80,000 in 2010-11.
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The move, however, was seen as a populist one driven by the impending elections in the state.
The Home Ministry in Delhi has now asked her to share the boundaries she imagines for the new states; how the existing civil service cadres will be divided among them; what each new state's share of the present debt burden will be; and the proposed capital city of each new state.
"We have sent back UP's proposal to divide the state and have sought reply to eight to nine questions," Union Home Secretary R K Singh told reporters.