While inaugurating 13 new districts of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) in the virtual mode on April 4, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy reiterated that decentralisation from the village level to the proposed three capitals was a right policy decision of his government that would do good to people.
The primary objective of the new districts was to take a substantial leap in the efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), he said.
“The performance of all Collectors will be assessed on that basis and the same will go into their service records. To help them in the endeavour, necessary tools and SOPs are being provided,” he said.
On the formation of new districts, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said hitherto the average population of districts was 38.15 lakh as per the 2011 Census, which was the highest in the country. “With 26 districts, it will come down to 19.07 lakh. This will make administration a lot easier as the distance from the farthest village in a district to the headquarters has been reduced by a large measure.”
He said Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of districts at 75 and Goa the least at two. Arunachal Pradesh, one of the smallest States, had 25 districts for a population of 1.38 crore.
In spite of being the seventh largest among the 28 States, A.P. had only 13 districts. The average population per district in Maharashtra was 31 lakh, and in Telangana it was 10.60 lakh for 33 districts.
Justifying the formation of new districts, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the responsibilities of Collectors had increased tremendously in the post-independence era from being merely officers collecting revenue to those playing a crucial role in the implementation of development and welfare schemes.
“Obviously, necessary changes had to be made in the citizen services delivery mechanism. The establishment of the ward and village secretariats was a significant step in taking governance to the people’s doorstep. Now, the new districts will facilitate a greater degree of efficiency in administration from the village level to the revenue divisions up to the Collectorates,” he asserted.
Earlier, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy released a book containing SOPs on localising the SDGs, and a District Handbook of Statistics.
Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Secretary (planning) G.S.R.K.R. Vijay Kumar and Director General of Police K. V. Rajendranath Reddy were among those present.
