All-party meeting in Bhadrachalam presses for demerger of Telangana’s five GPs

An all-party meeting in Bhadrachalam demanded the demerger of five gram panchayats merged with Andhra Pradesh for the Polavaram project. Leaders said residents were facing issues and urged the Centre to introduce a bill to merge them back into Telangana.

Kothagudem: An all-party meeting organised under the aegis of erstwhile Khammam district TGEJAC at Bhadrachalam on Monday stressed the need for demerger of Telangana’s five gram panchayats.

Rajya Sabha member Renuka Chowdary, Bhadrachalam MLA Dr Tellam Venkata Rao, Telangana Forest Development Corporation chairman Podem Veeraiah, BRS leader Anugula Rakesh Reddy as well as leaders of different parties took part in the meeting chaired by Telangana Government Employees Joint Action Committee (TGEJAC) secretary general Eluri Srinivas Rao.

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Addressing the gathering, Renuka Chowdary said that the struggle would not stop until the 19 revenue villages in Kannaigudem, Pichukulapadu, Yetapaka, Purushothapatnam and Gundala gram panchayats, which were merged into Andhra Pradesh, are merged back into Telangana.

The gram panchayats were merged into Andhra Pradesh for the Polavaram project, and it affected the development of Bhadrachalam temple town. Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be invited to the district and the real situation would be explained to him, she said.

Renuka Chowdary alleged that injustice was done to Bhadrachalam as even the areas that were not subject to inundation by the project were merged into Andhra Pradesh in an unscientific manner.

MLA Dr Tellam Venkata Rao, Veeraiah and Rakesh Reddy said that due to the arbitrary merger of five gram panchayats, those living in these areas were suffering and wanted the GPs to be merged back into Telangana. They demanded that a bill should be introduced in Parliament for this purpose.

After fighting for 12 years, the issue has been brought to the notice of the AP Chief Minister, the President, the Governor and the Central government. There is an urgent need to address the matter at the earliest, the leaders noted.