The State Government’s proposal to create 13 new districts on the lines of Telangana has evoked strong opposition from civil society organisations and opposition parties in Prakasam district.
The trifurcation of the district with part of it comprising the Assembly segments of S.N. Padu, Addanki, Parchur and Chirala proposed to be merged with new Bapatla district and another part including Kandukur Assembly segment to be clubbed with SPSR Nellore district will cause irreparable loss to Prakasam district, which remains backward even after its formation five decades ago, said Prakasam District Development Forum president Chunduri Ranga Rao.
‘Will launch a struggle’
“We will bring together like-minded non-governmental organisations for a protracted struggle to oppose the unscientific trifurcation of Prakasam district,” he said as the State government called for submission of objections and suggestions in the next 30 days.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) East Prakasam unit secretary P. Anjaneyulu maintained that Lok Sabha constituency should not be taken as basis for formation of new districts as they could be redrawn once again after 2024. Dubbing the reorganisation of districts as a ‘futile exercise’, he felt that it would at best serve to accommodate disgruntled ruling YSR Congress Party leaders in various posts in the newly-formed districts.
He asserted that the Left parties would call for a strident struggle to exert pressure on the Jagan Mohan Reddy Government to recall the decision which would not benefit the people of the district, formed by merging the most backward parts of Guntur, Kurnool and Nellore districts in 1970.
Suggestions
Ongole Town Development Committee Secretary Marella Subba Rao suggested formation of a new district with Markapur as headquarters to speed up development in the western parts of the district, and merge the Assembly segments of Giddalur and Yerragondapalem with Nandayal-headquartered district as these Assembly constituencies were far away from Ongole.
The loss of revenue-earning parts like Ramayapatnam and Chimakurthy will make the truncated Ongole district economically unviable, felt Ongole Citizens' Forum president Madhu Kolla. The new Ongole district will be without the prestigious cattle farm now located in Chadalawada to nurture the world-famous Ongole cattle and the Gullapalli Special Economic Zone, home for granite processing units, he said.
