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Jagan govt carves out 13 new districts in Andhra, names one after TDP founder
According to a notification, the reorganisation of the districts is being done under the Section 3 of the Andhra Pradesh Districts (Formation) Act, 1974. It has called for objections or suggestions in writing on the proposal from the people, who are likely to be affected by this decision, to be submitted to the district collector within 30 days.
The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government on Wednesday carved out 13 new districts from the existing 13 districts in Andhra Pradesh by delimitation of their boundaries “for better administration and development of the areas”.
According to a notification, the reorganisation of the districts is being done under the Section 3 of the Andhra Pradesh Districts (Formation) Act, 1974. It has called for objections or suggestions in writing on the proposal from the people, who are likely to be affected by this decision, to be submitted to the district collector within 30 days.
While unfurling the national flag at Vijayawada municipal stadium later in the day to mark the Republic Day, Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan said the government was proposing to create 13 more districts in the state with effect from Ugadi, the Telugu New Year Day, falling on April 2 this year. “With this the total number of districts in the state will go up to 26,” the Governor said.
The chief minister held an emergency cabinet meeting through virtual mode on Tuesday night and got a formal approval for the proposal to create 13 more new districts, so that the announcement could be made on the Republic Day.
Reddy, who promised in his pre-election manifesto in 2019 on the creation of new districts, appointed a high-level official committee headed by the chief secretary in July 2020, to study the proposal and work out the modalities.
He suggested that the geographical boundary of each district would cover each parliamentary constituency. There are 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in AP and as such, 25 districts were originally planned.
The official committee, however, recommended that Araku parliamentary constituency reserved for tribals, being the largest in the area, be divided into two districts. Thus, the total number of districts has now been decided at 26.
The new districts and their headquarters (in brackets) are: Srikakulam (Srikakulam), Vizianagaram (Vizianagaram), Manyam (Parvathipuram), Alluri Sitharama Raju (Paderu), Visakhapatnam (Visakhapatnam), Anakapalli (Anakapalli), Kakinada (Kakinada), Konaseema (Amalapuram), East Godavari (Rajamahendravaram), West Godavari (Bheemavaram), Eluru (Eluru), Krishna (Machilipatnam), NTR (Vijayawada), Guntur (Guntur), Bapatla (Bapatla), Palnadu (Narsaraopeta), Prakasam (Ongole), SPS Nellore (Nellore), Kurnool (Kurnool), Nandyal (Nandyal), Ananthapuram (Ananthapuram), Sri Satyasai (Puttaparthy), YSR Kadapa (Kadapa), Annamayya (Rayachoty), Chittoor (Chittoor) and Sri Balaji (Tirupati).
New district named after TDP founder NTR
An interesting part of the Jagan government’s decision was to name the proposed new district of Vijayawada after Telugu Desam Party founder and former chief minister of combined Andhra Pradesh late NT Rama Rao.
Popularly known as NTR, he was a doyen of Telugu film industry and was father-in-law of TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu, who is Jagan’s bête noire in Andhra politics.
In fact, during his visit to Nimmakuru, the birth place of NTR as part of his marathon padayatra in April 2018, Jagan promised to rename Krishna district as NTR district, evoking huge response from NTR’s fans.
However, since the Krishna river is sentimentally attached to the people of the area, the chief minister changed his mind and decided to rename the new district of Vijaywada as NTR district. Incidentally, 2022 happens to be NTR’s birth centenary year.
Telugu Desam Party politburo member Varla Ramaiah said it took Jagan Mohan Reddy three year to fulfil his election promise. “It is very obvious that he has taken the decision not out of love for the legendary actor and popular leader, but only to regain his fast losing popular support in the state. In any case, we appreciate that he has taken the decision at least belatedly,” Ramaiah said.
Pilgrim town of Tirupati a new district
Similarly, Tirupati parliamentary constituency is now made into a new district and named as Sri Balaji district in the name of Lord Venkateshwara of Tirumala. Hindupur parliamentary constituency has been converted into a new district in the name of Sri Satya Sai (after popular godman Satya Sai Baba) with Puttaparthi as the district headquarters.
The tribal parliamentary constituency of Araku has been divided into two districts – one was named as Manyam district with Parvatipuram as headquarters and another Alluri Seetharama Raju district (named after revolutionary freedom fighter) with Paderu as the headquarters.
Rajampet parliamentary constituency, which is part of Kadapa district, will now become a district with the name of Annamayya district (named after 13th century saint-composer Annamacharya) with Rayachoti as the district headquarters.
Amalapuram parliamentary constituency, which is part of East Godavari district is being made a new district with the name of “Konaseema,” while Narsaraopet parliamentary constituency in Guntur district, has become Palnadu district.
After the reorganisation, Kurnool will be the largest district with 23.66 lakh population, Alluri Seetharama Raju district will have the lowest of 9.54 lakh population.
