New districts in Andhra Pradesh lack basic geographic sense: HRF

Visakhapatnam: The Human Rights Forum (HRF) is of the view that the Andhra Pradesh government’s proposal to carve out 13 new districts made no administrative or rational sense. In a statement here on Friday, HRF leaders V.S. Krishna and A. Chandrasekhar noted that although the formation of smaller districts was a laudable exercise, it ought […]

Visakhapatnam: The Human Rights Forum (HRF) is of the view that the Andhra Pradesh government’s proposal to carve out 13 new districts made no administrative or rational sense.

In a statement here on Friday, HRF leaders V.S. Krishna and A. Chandrasekhar noted that although the formation of smaller districts was a laudable exercise, it ought to have been carried out after wide-ranging and meaningful public discussion.

“Unfortunately, there has been neither proper application of mind nor democratic consultation. The exercise seems to have been done in a very cavalier manner and is bereft of basic geographic sense. If gone through, it will result in several places across the State either remaining at considerable distances from the proposed district headquarters or the distance even increasing further than before!,” they stated.

Citing the example of the newly proposed Alluri Sitharama Raju district with Paderu as headquarters that includes the Assembly segment of Rampachodavaram, they said that it would render Yetapaka, a revenue divisional headquarters in the Rampachodavaram constituency, 277 km from Paderu.

The travel time taken would be well over seven hours. Similarly, most mandals in Rampachodavaram like Kunavaram, VR Puram, Devipatnam and Maredumilli, would be more than 240 km from the district headquarters, they observed.

The situation in several places in the non-Scheduled region is no better, the HRF leaders said. In Prakasam district, mandals in the purview of Markapuram division will be more than 140 km away from Ongole, the district headquarters. It would take three hours to reach the district headquarters from places like Giddalur and Yerragondapalem.

Inexplicably, the divisional headquarters of Kandukur, which is about 45 km from Ongole, has been included in Nellore district, which makes it more than double the existing distance, i.e., 112 km from Nellore. Addanki, which is just 39 km from Ongole in Prakasam district, is now included in Bapatla district with the distance doubled. Also, Holagunda mandal in Kurnool district and Amarapuram and Agali to Puttaparthy in the proposed Satya Sai district, as well as Kukunoor in Eluru district are over 110 km from their respective district headquarters, they pointed out.

“A perusal of the preliminary notification issued by the government contains several such anomalies. What is the point of creating new districts when distances remain considerable? The formation of new districts in this manner will in no way facilitate the stated objective of better administration. Re-organising of districts with Parliamentary constituencies as criteria is fundamentally flawed,” they remarked.

HRF opinioned that given the huge size of existing districts, each must be carved out into at least three new districts. Most, if not all the existing districts in the State could be re-organized into at least three new districts each. “Districts like Anathapuram, the largest in the State and East Godavari, can be re-organized into four districts each. This trifurcation of existing districts would mean that the State will have 39 or 40 districts. It would do well to remember that Tamil Nadu, which has 38 districts within a geographical spread of 130,058 square km, is less than AP’s area of 160,205 sq. km. Odisha with an area of 155,707 sq. km has 30 districts while Telangana reorganized districts in 2016 carving out 33 districts from 10. Telangana’s geographical spread is less than AP at 112,077 sq. km.,” they said.

Besides, in the choosing of new district headquarters, preference must be accorded to backward regions also keeping in mind proximity and geographical contiguity. With respect to the Fifth Schedule region, the HRF felt that each of the existing Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) headquarters could be constituted into a new district. This would mean Seethampeta in Srikakulam district, Parvathipuram in Vizianagaram, Paderu in Visakhapatnam district, Rampachodavaram in East Godavari, Kota Ramchandrapuram (located in Buttaigudem mandal) in West Godavari district and the recently created Chintur ITDA in the erstwhile Khammam district.

Chintur district could include the mandals of Velerpadu and Kukkunur across the Godavari river as well. These new districts in the Fifth Schedule region could be named after legendary adivasi personalities like Gantam Dora, Tammanna Dora, the duo suggested.

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