The recent division of the existing 13 districts into 26 districts is yet again a historical injustice to the Rayalaseema region, opined the Rayalaseema Saguneeti Sadhana Samiti. It demanded the creation of at least three more districts — Adoni, Guntakal, and Madanapalli — in addition to the eight notified now.
Rayalaseema region with 42% of the landmass of the State has only 8 districts, while the remaining 18 are in 58%, which reduces focus on development, it opined.
Samiti president Bojja Dasaratharami Reddy told The Hindu that close to 50 lakh people had migrated from Rayalaseema region to other parts of the erstwhile combined Andhra Pradesh owing to lack of irrigation water and no focus on the development of the arable land by creating infrastructure to utilise river Krishna water as per the 1937 Sribagh Pact.
“The government’s claim that the existing formula of carving out districts based on population or Assembly constituencies was scientific, does not fit into the natural justice formula. Rayalaseema should have smaller districts so that the Collectors and other officers in the government departments could concentrate better,” Mr. Dasaratharami Reddy added.
While the lands could be used, providing irrigation water to Rayalaseema had been neglected and resultant human migration was noticed for 200 years and a pact was made about 100 years ago, but nothing has been in action, which would lead to further migration of people from this region in future too, he opined.
The creation of Nandyal district was welcome, but attaching Panyam and Gadivemula Mandals to Kurnool district was illogical as people have a stronger connection with Nandyal. Till the reorganisation of Assembly constituencies happens, there was nothing wrong if one Assembly constituency was spread over two districts, the RSSS leader observed.
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh Bhramana Sankshema Samakya has demanded that Nandyal district be named after former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, who had represented the Nandyal constituency and had earned a name for the economic reforms he had initiated in his term as Prime Minister.
