Logistics preparations to administer the 13 new districts of Andhra Pradesh in full swing

Published : Mar 11, 2022 16:00 IST

Members of various associations leading a rally in Parvatipuram in protest against the name Manyam for the new district.

Members of various associations leading a rally in Parvatipuram in protest against the name Manyam for the new district.

Preparations have been expedited in Andhra Pradesh in order to meet the deadline of administering the 13 new districts from Ugadi, the Telugu New Year. Ugadi happens to fall on April 2 this year. Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma directed officials to complete the infrastructure arrangements, including the identifying suitable buildings for housing the new collectorate, revenue divisional offices, transit accommodation, etc in the 13 new districts by March 25.

Speaking to Frontline M.T. Krishna Babu, Principal Secretary (Transport and Roads and Buildings), disclosed that the crucial exercise of the division of existing staff and the finalising of buildings had already been done in the headquarters of 11 of the 13 new districts. The two district headquarters yet to have their offices finalised are Anakapalli (headquarters of the district of the same name) and Bhimavaram (headquarters of West Godavari district).

The Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh has mandated that the budget for the creation of infrastructure in the 13 new districts should be restricted to Rs.39 crore. Krishna Babu admitted that the administration was going about the formation of 13 new districts “with the utmost frugality”. The State government is also not looking to undertake any new recruitment. The government is hoping that it will able to depute at least two All India cadre officers (IAS)—the Collector and First Joint Collector—in each of the new districts.

Talking to Frontline, officials said that the primary reason for the creation of new districts was that Andhra Pradesh with its existing 13 districts was unable to take full advantage of several of the Government of India’s schemes, since the schemes are sanctioned taking a district as a unit. They cite the case of the Government of India wanting one government medical college for every district. Andhra Pradesh has 11 government medical colleges for its 13 districts, while the other Telugu State, Telangana, has decided to have a medical college in each of its 33 districts by 2023, with the Telangana government even allocating Rs.1,000 crore towards this. Telangana presently has 10 government medical institutions. The Jagan Mohan Reddy is also hoping to sanction a government medical college in each of its existing 13 and 13 new districts.

With the deadline for receiving suggestions and objections from the public on the gazette notification carving out the new districts having expired, offcials are expecting the final notification on the formation of the 13 new districts to be released in the third week of March. The government has received around 10,000 suggestions and objections from across the State. A majority of representations are related to the naming of the districts.

The new districts are Manyam, Alluri Sitharama Raju, Anakapalli, Kakinada, Kona Seema, Eluru, NTR District, Bapatla, Palnadu, Nandyal, Sri Satyasai, Annamayya and Sri Balaji district. The names of Andhra Pradesh’s existing 13 districts are: Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, SPS Nellore, Anantapuram, YSR Kadapa, Kurnool and Chittoor.

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