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Five Andhra villages near Bhadrachalam stage dharna, seek merger with Telangana
The five villagers had been part of erstwhile Khammam district of Telangana, but were merged with Andhra Pradesh soon after the bifurcation of the combined state in June 2014, as part of transfer of seven revenue blocks to the residuary AP on the ground that they fall under submergence areas of Polavaram irrigation project on Godavari river
Hundreds of people belonging to five villages, close to Telangana’s temple town of Bhadrachalam but actually a part of Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitarama Raju district, on Sunday held a road blockade demanding that the villages be merged with Telangana.
The residents of five villages – Gundala, Pichukalapadu, Kannaigudem, Yetapaka and Purushothapatnam, held a dharna at Chennampet hamlet on the Bhadrachalam-Yetakaka road with the support of opposition parties. They held up traffic and cooked food on the road to register their protest.
Several leaders from both the two Telugu states including Congress MLA from Bhadrachalam Podem Veeraiah, former Communist Party of India (CPI) MLA from Kothagudem K Sambasiva Rao and local CPI and CPI (M) leaders took part in the agitation.
“There has been no additional benefit for Andhra Pradesh state following the merger of the five villages with it eight years ago. On the other hand, the residents of these villages will be immensely benefited if they become part of Telangana as they will get access to all the developmental work and other facilities available in Bhadrachalam which is hardly five to six kilometers away,” Sambasiva Rao said.
He demanded that the Central government intervene in the matter and take steps for the demerger of the five villages from Andhra and merge them with Telangana.
The five villagers had been part of erstwhile Khammam district of Telangana, but were merged with Andhra Pradesh soon after the bifurcation of the combined state in June 2014, as part of transfer of seven revenue blocks to the residuary AP on the ground that they fall under submergence areas of Polavaram irrigation project on Godavari river.
The residents of these villages, which were made part of East Godavari district till April this year and now included in the recently carved out Alluri Sitarama Raju district, have been demanding that they be merged with Telangana, as they are closer to Bhadrachalam town, which is part of Telangana.
“For all practical purposes – whether it is for medical facilities or marketing of their agricultural produce, education or even for jobs, these villagers come to Bhadrachalam, instead of depending on the Andhra Pradesh government. The reason is that their district headquarters of Paderu is nearly 250 km away and they cannot travel such a long distance if they have any work,” said K Satyanaryana, a local resident.
Their demand for demerger from Andhra and merger with Telangana gained momentum following a statement from Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in the state assembly that his government will seek the merger of these five villages with Telangana.
During last week’s heavy floods in Godavari, the villagers faced a lot of submergence and they had to be rehabilitated in the relief camps arranged by the Telangana government and this led to the revival of their demand for merger with Telangana.
State transport minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, who supervised the relief operations in Bhadrachalam reiterated the demand for merger of these villages with Telangana. “It will make things easy for the Telangana government to provide relief to the affected people, who were originally part of Bhadrachalam,” he said.
This triggered stiff resistance from the YSR Congress party government in Andhra Pradesh. “Let the Telangana ministers not kick up needless controversies. Will they agree, if we demand for the merger of Hyderabad with Andhra Pradesh? In fact, Bhadrachalam temple town should be part of Andhra,” argued senior YSRC leader and education minister Botsa Satyanarayana. “We know how to handle relief work in flood-affected areas,” he said.
Another YSRC leader and former MLA from Paderu said though it was true that these villages were far away from Paderu, the demand for merger with Telangana was not correct. “The agitation is purely politically motivated. The state government will take all steps to provide necessary facilities and infrastructure to these villages. In fact, the people have been getting the benefits of welfare schemes of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government,” he said.
On Sunday, however, the villagers asserted that they will intensify their demand for demerger of their villages from Andhra and merger with Telangana.
“It is not correct to say that the agitation is politically motivated. This has been going on for eight years. They are fighting for a better future and livelihood,” CPI leader R Ramprasad said.
