Four urban development authorities created in Adilabad

People from both urban and urban parts expressed surprise over the jurisdiction.

Adilabad: The jurisdiction of four newly created urban development authorities in erstwhile Adilabad is comparatively larger than that of many existing entities, surprising many.

Except for Mandamarri municipality and 21 villages, the remaining 350 villages, Naspur, Bellampalli, Kyathanapalli, Chennur, Luxettipet and Mancherial municipalities are part of Mancherial Urban Development Authority (MUDA) formed by the government on October 25.

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Similarly, Nirmal, Bhainsa and Khanapur municipalities that contain 420 villages are part of the Nirmal Urban Development Authority. Both Asifabad and Kaghaznagar municipalities and 199 villages were also converted into urban authorities. Adilabad Urban Development Authority was created by merging 107 villages in seven mandals and Adilabad municipality.

The authorities were formed by five members including the Collector, Additional Collector, government special chief principal/ secretary, director of urban administration and director of town, country planning (DTCP). While the Collector is the chairman, the Additional Collector will be vice-chairman of the authority. Special chief principal, director of urban administration, director of DTCP will act as members of the body.

People from both urban and urban parts expressed surprise over the jurisdiction. They doubted that the authorities might not develop the parts of the municipalities and villages considering the area. They opined that there was no need to merge rural parts in the authorities as the rural civic bodies would not be able to get the attention of authorities.

Similarly, residents of both municipalities and rural parts feared that the taxes for house permissions would considerably go up with the advent of the authorities. They stated that the financially poor families might not afford the taxes to get permission to construct a new house.

Adilabad Municipal commissioner CVN Raju said the towns and rural parts would be able to see substantial growth with the help of the urban development authorities. He stated that the authorities would receive special funds from both the Centre and State government. He added that permissions to layouts and construction of houses would be simplified.