Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday formally inaugurated 13 new districts in the state, doubling the number to 26, in a major administrative overhaul, which according to him is aimed at decentralization and taking the governance close to the people. However, Opposition parties did not agree that the reorganization of districts has been done for the welfare of the people.
Issuing a gazette notification on Saturday, the YSRCP-led Andhra Pradesh government had said that all the new districts would come into being from April 4.
Soon after notification was issued, the state government reshuffled IAS and IPS officers and appointed collectors and Superintendents of Police to the newly-created districts.
What Are The New districts?
The new districts are: Parvathipuram Manyam, Alluri Seetharamaraju, Anakapalli, Kakinada, Konaseema, Eluru, NTR, Palanadu, Bapatla, Nandyala, Sri Satya Sai, Annamayya and Tirupati.
Inaugurating the districts virtually, CM Jagan Reddy said his government would continue with the decentralization policy and the new districts will provide better administration, transparency and the delivery mechanism of welfare would be smooth and effective.
Drawing a comparison with other states of India, he said that even smaller states like Arunachal Pradesh have 25 districts for better administration and of all the 727 districts in the country, Andhra Pradesh is the only state with a high average of 38.15 lakh people in each district. With the creation of new districts, the average population density has come down to 19.07 lakh, he stated.
A Tribute
Jagan Reddy has named a district after Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (popularly known as NTR), the founder of Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Another existing district is already named after another former CM YSR.
A tribal region is named after Alluri Seetharamaraju, a tribal leader who fought the British during Freedom Movement, along with Parvathipuram Manyam, which also has a history of revolt. Palanadu and Bapatla have their historical significance during and before the struggle for Independence. Keeping people’s sentiments in mind, the districts have been named Tirupati, Annamayya and Sri Satya Sai.
Anakapalle, Kakinada and Eluru are parliamentary constituencies which were earlier in Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari districts, while Konaseema is an extended district of former Amalapuram constituency.
When And How Was This Planned?
Jagan Reddy, during the poll campaign for the 2019 assembly elections, promised that his party, if voted to power, would make every Lok Sabha constituency a district. The state has 25 Lok Sabha seats. One district was additionally created carving out the tribal areas in East Godavari and Visakhapatnam.
Thus, the state government, in January, had issued a draft notification to carve out 26 districts from the existing 13 and invited suggestions and objections.
After sometime, the officials informed Chief Minister Jagan Reddy that the state government has received 16,600 suggestions and objections from the public regarding the new districts and said they were considered and added that district collectors made recommendations after holding discussions with the people and public representatives.
The officials prepared the proposals for the formation and reorganisation of the new district administration after taking all issues including staff division, the six-point formula and also Presidential orders into consideration.
The officials also said that they prepared a checklist to ensure all arrangements are on track and readied new websites and new mechanisms for new districts and added that they have completed changes in the software, accordingly. They also said that handbooks containing information on new districts were also prepared.
The Chief Minister was informed that the offices and camp offices of District Collector and SPs in the new districts were finalised and government buildings were selected as far as possible and private buildings were taken on lease where government buildings were not available.
Opposition Calls New Districts ‘Politically Motivated’
The main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and the Jana Sena Party (JSP) led by actor-politician Pawan Kalyan slammed YSRCP-led Andhra Pradesh government for the manner in which they reorganized the districts. Opposition has alleged that the government did not take into consideration people’s opinion.
Naidu described the formation of new districts as “unscientific” and “politically motivated”. The TDP would certainly come to power in the next elections when it would correct all such mistakes being made by the present regime, he said.
Naidu alleged that the government did not take into consideration the objections and protests made by the people against new districts and revenue divisions.
However, Jagan Reddy said he obliged opposition leader Naidu’s request and accorded revenue division status to Kuppam on the latter’s request. “On the appeal made by Kuppam MLA (Chandrababu Naidu), we included Kuppam in the list of 21 new revenue divisions,” he said.
On the other hand, Pawan Kalyan said district reorganisation was done by ignoring people’s opinion. “The rulers moved forward as per their own perception without considering and valuing the public opinion in the process of reorganization of districts in the state,” he said terming reorganisation “lopsided”.
He asked why the government didn’t take the people’s aspirations, issues of distance in the new districts and other constraints into consideration. “Similarly, there is not even a proper story on the long-pending demands for the districts. The tribal people of submerged mandals will face so many hurdles in the district formed with Paderu as headquarters. People of Etapaka and Kukunuru mandals have to travel at least 300 km to reach the district headquarters,” he said.
(with inputs from agencies)
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