Protests against govt decision on Bhadradri

Khammam: Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao on Saturday clarified in the Assembly that there was no scope for upgrading the temple town Bhadrachalam into a municipality due to Constitutional issues.

Replying to a query raised by Bhadrachalam MLA Podem Veeraiah during the introduction of the Telangana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill-2023, Dayakar Rao said that as per Part A of Article 243ZC3 of the Constitution, Scheduled area expansion was not allowed, and hence Bhadrachalam cannot be upgraded to a municipality. He supported dividing major panchayats into three sub-panchayats and got a nod jfrom the Assembly.

Following the announcement, the left party leaders expressed outrage at the government apathy towards the temple town. The leaders and cadres came out on roads and staged protests against the government orders. They demanded that the government continue the temple town as a major panchayat or upgraded Municipality and conduct local body elections. They condemned the government decision and asked it to withdraw the decision. Many left party leaders of CPI &CPM participated in protest programmes.

The CPI leaders, meanwhile, launched a signature campaign against the government's decision.