Demand for more districts gets louder

While the state government has plans to create four more new districts in addition to the 17 already announced by it, demand for more districts and revenue divisions has picked up steam from various parts of the state. The demands for new districts are pouring in from at least half a dozen towns in the state such as Miryalaguda, Devarakonda, Narayanpet, Mulugu, Sathupally and Husnabad.

Leaders of various political parties have intensified their plans in various forms such as bandh calls, rallies, dharnas and rasta rokos, despite chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's assertion that no more new districts would be considered. The CM worried over the agitations has reportedly asked the party leaders to douse the fire. But local TRS public representatives, especially MLAs are under pressure for new districts. TRS MLA from Narayanpet in Mahbubnagar district S Rajender Reddy has gone to the extent of sending his resignation letter to speaker to press for Narayanpet district.

"The CM's announcement in favour of four new districts Sircilla, Janagaon, Gadwal and Asifabad has whetted the appetite for more and the local leaders have started second round of agitation," a TRS senior leader opined. Nalgonda district leaders have been demanding separate districts for Miryalaguda and Devarakonda towns. All party leaders gave a bandh call seeking separate district for Miryalguda assembly constituency . Narayanpet in Mahbubnagar district is on the boil with leaders giving a bandh call for 48 hours and rasta rokos. Some leaders want separate district for Mulugu by renaming it as `Sammakka-Sarakka' and merging some agency areas in Warangal district.Similar demands for Sathupally district in Khammam and Husnabad in Karimnagar have become louder. The leaders of Husnabad on Thursday demanded a separate district for Husnabad assembly segment by naming it after former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. "When five districts can be carved out from Warangal and four from Adilabad, what is wrong in having three districts in Khammam by



including Sathupally? The state government proposed only two districts -Khammam and Kothagudem district in the draft notification. The geographical area of Khammam is more than some districts such as Medak," Sathupally MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah said.Apart from carving out new districts from the existing ones, there are demands for new revenue divisions and mandals. Interestingly , leaders are protesting against the merger of their mandals in the newly proposed districts. For instance, people of Gundala mandal in Nalgonda district are opposing merger with proposed Janagaon district. They want to be part of proposed Yadadri district. Similarly Maktal people are insisting that the constituency should be in Mahbubnagar district.

"The state government wants to start four new districts Sircilla, Janagaon, Gadwal, and Asifabad along with 17 other new districts on Dasara. These will be included in the final notification," an official of Revenue department told TOI. Opposition parties say the state government has taken up district reorganization according to its whims and fancies and without any criteria. "The government is deviating from its own procedures like inviting public opinion. Initially , the government said it would consider new districts comprising areas lying far from the existing district and with a population of 3-4 lakh. But most proposed district areas are close to the districts and do not the population criteria either," L Ramana, president of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) said.

HC refuses to stay notification on new districts

Hyderabad: A vacation bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday refused to stay the preliminary notification issued by the government for formation of Bhupalapally district in Warangal and Bhadradri in Khammam by reorganizing the revenue divisions and mandals located in Scheduled areas in Khammam, Warangal and Adilabad districts.

The bench comprising Justice C Praveen Kumar and Justice Sunil Chowdary said that it would hear the PILs that challenged formation of new districts but would not grant any interim direction at this stage. The counsels for the petitioners, Satya Prasad and Prabhakar Chikkudu, told the court that the state government had no power to reorganize agency areas that fall under the 5th Schedule of the Constitution. Boundaries of a Scheduled area could be notified only by the President in consultation with the governor.

The government had issued the notification without taking any such steps, they said. Prasad and Chikkudu urged the court to stay the notification in view of the likelihood of the state government issuing the final notification announcing the formation of the new district on Dasara. The bench adjourned the case for further hearing after Dasara vacation.