Andhra adds 13 new districts with aim to boost governance

Starting Monday, the number of districts in Andhra Pradesh went up to 26 with reorganisation of existing 13 districts through delimitation of their boundaries as part of decentralised administration and for better governance.

Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy virtually inaugurated the 13 newly carved out districts from his camp office at Tadepalli in Amaravati between 9.05 am and 9.45 am. During this period, collectors, joint collectors and superintendents of police appointed for all the reorganised 26 districts assumed charge simultaneously.

“From now on, Andhra Pradesh is a state with 26 districts. We have at least one parliamentary constituency per district,” the chief minister announced.

The districts that are carved out are: Parvathipuram Manyam, Alluri Seetharamaraju, Anakapalli, Kakinada, Konaseema, Eluru, NTR, Palanadu, Bapatla, Nandyala, Sri Satya Sai, Annamayya and Tirupati.

Reiterating his government’s policy of decentralised administration, the chief minister said the new districts will provide better administration, have transparency and ensure a smooth and effective delivery mechanism of welfare schemes.

“We have seen the development through decentralised administration in the form of village and ward secretariats. We are now decentralising at the district level as well,” he said.

The reorganisation of the districts was done under Section 3 of the Andhra Pradesh Districts (Formation) Act, 1974. Along with 26 districts, the state government has created 23 revenue divisions.

Jagan pointed out that there were as many as 25 districts in a small state like Arunachal Pradesh. No other state in the country has such a large population for a district, as was in Andhra Pradesh, which has population of about 4.96 crore.

“Of all the 727 districts in the country, Andhra Pradesh is the only state with a high population of 38.15 lakh people in one of the districts. With the creation of 13 more districts, the maximum population density has come down to 19.07 lakh,” he said.

The chief minister also released the District Handbook of Statistics, which contains comprehensive information on the districts created by the Planning Department.

Telugu Desam Party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu described the formation of new districts as “unscientific” and “politically motivated”.

He said the Jagan government had not taken into consideration the objections and protests made by the people against new districts and revenue divisions. “The TDP will certainly come to power in the next elections and we shall correct all such mistakes being made by the present regime,” he said.

District named after TDP founder

Interestingly, the Jagan government has named the new district of Vijayawada after Telugu Desam Party founder and former chief minister of combined Andhra Pradesh late NT Rama Rao.

Popularly known as NTR, he was a doyen of Telugu film industry and was father-in-law of present TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu, who is Jagan’s bête noire in Andhra politics.

During his visit to Nimmakuru, the birth place of NTR as part of his marathon padayatra in April 2018, Jagan promised to rename Krishna district as NTR district, evoking huge response from NTR’s fans. Incidentally, 2022 happens to be NTR’s birth centenary year.

Similarly, Tirupati parliamentary constituency is now made into a new district. Though it was originally decided to name it as Sri Balaji district in the name of Lord Venkateshwara of Tirumala, the name Tirupati was retained following suggestions from various quarters.

Hindupur parliamentary constituency has been converted into a new district in the name of Sri Satya Sai (after popular godman Satya Sai Baba) with Puttaparthi as the district headquarters.

The tribal parliamentary constituency of Araku has been divided into two districts – one was named as Parvatipuram Manyam district with Parvatipuram as headquarters and another Alluri Seetharama Raju district (named after revolutionary freedom fighter) with Paderu as the headquarters.

Rajampet parliamentary constituency, which is part of Kadapa district, will now become a district with the name of Annamayya district (named after 13th century saint-composer Annamacharya) with Rayachoti as the district headquarters.

Amalapuram parliamentary constituency, which is part of East Godavari district is being made a new district with the name of “Konaseema,” while Narsaraopet parliamentary constituency in Guntur district, has become Palnadu district.