Gannavaram, Penamaluru wish to be part of NTR district

Vijayawada: People of Gannavaram and Penamaluru Assembly constituencies are not happy as the government has not merged the two segments in the proposed NTR Vijayawada district. These two Assembly segments will continue in Krishna district.

The State government has announced the creation of 13 fresh districts in the State totaling to 26 districts.

The Krishna district has two Lok Sabha constituencies - Machilipatnam and Vijayawada. As per the decision of the State government, every Lok Sabha segment will be formed into one district. Both Gannavaram and Penamaluru Assembly constituencies are in Machilipatnam Lok Sabha segment. But, both these areas are very near to Vijayawada and people are connected to the city for many decades.

If the two Assembly constituencies are merged with the proposed Vijayawada, both employees and people will be very happy. A large number of people live in these segments and run shops and other commercial establishments in Vijayawada city. If both shop or office and house are located in the same district, they may not face jurisdiction problem in future.

If Vijayawada city will be upgraded to Greater Vijayawada in future, the State government may not face problems to merge villages and towns of these two assembly segments with Vijayawada city. The proposed NTR Vijayawada district would have 459 sqkm less area compared to Krishna district after bifurcation.

Krishna district has seven Assembly segments, two revenue divisions - Machilipatnam and Gudivada, 25 mandals, area of 3775 sq km and population of 17.35 lakh.

On the other hand, the proposed NTR Vijayawada district has seven Assembly segments, three revenue divisions (Tiruvuru and Nandigama will be created), 20 mandals with area of 3316 square kilo metres. The population of proposed NTR Vijayawada district is 22.19 lakh, which is more compared to Krishna district. NTR Vijayawada district has 459 sq km less area compared to Krishna district. NTR Vijayawada district will have more population and less area. Most of the population is in Vijayawada and suburbs only.

Gannavaram and Penamaluru constituencies of urban population and are very near to Vijayawada. Due to increasing cost of living in Vijayawada city, a large number of people settled in Penamaluru Assembly constituency. Many government officials and staff from these two mandals had been going to Machilipatnam for a long time to attend the meetings and other administrative needs.

If the two segments are merged with Vijayawada, the staff can save both time and money to visit the district head quarters in Vijayawada. Traders from these segments visit to buy the stock from wholesalers and stockists. Supervision of administrative activities will be easy in Gannavaram and Penamaluru mandal if they are merged with proposed NTR district. So far, discussions are going on the creation of new districts, carving out the segments from the existing districts and proposals of merger with newly formed districts.