Merging of 9 gram panchayats with Tirupati Municipal Corporation mooted

Tirupati: Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) is contemplating to merge nine gram panchayats in the surrounding areas of pilgrim city with the corporation. Municipal Administration Minister Botcha Satyanarayanarecently asked the officials to prepare plans for the merger of nearby gram panchayats in the municipalities or corporations.

Accordingly, Tirupati Urban Development Authority (TUDA) Chairman Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy proposed the merger of the nine gram panchayats with the proposed Greater Tirupati Municipal Corporation (GTMC). He wanted the corporation authorities to send the proposal to the government in this regard.

The corporation officials started collecting the details such as population, number of families, and area of the each of the nine villages. After the merger, the total area of the municipal corporation (GTMC) is expected to reach to 40 sq km from the present 27 sq.km and the population is expected to grow to six lakh from the present five lank.

The nine gram panchayats and their population as per 2011 census (given in the bracket) are Avilala (1,564), Settipalli, Tiruchanur (11,054), Padmavathpuram (3,774), Vedanthapuram (5,201), Ramanujapalli (596), Tummalagunta (2,304), Chiguruvada North Kandriga (1,936), Mangalam (3,774) and Sainagar (2,184). But with the rapid growth of the

areas around Tirupati, the total population of the nine villages will be around one lakh now. It may be noted that three gram panchayats Thimmanaidu palem, MR Palli and Raji Nagar were merged with Tirupati Corporation 12 years ago and now it is planned to merge 9 more villages with the corporation.

The nine villages under TUDA limits are in Chandragiri Assembly constituency which is represented by YSR Congress Party senior leader and TUDA Chairman Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy.