Kuppam, Nagari, Srikalahasti to become revenue divisions

Tirupati: As part of districts rejig, the erstwhile Chittoor district is going to have seven revenue divisions as against the present three. These seven divisions spread over 14 Assembly segments will be divided into three districts as announced earlier. The government was learnt to have taken a final view on the reorganisation of districts after receiving various objections from people and political parties and reportedly accepted the new proposals. It was also learnt that the name of Sri Balaji district has been changed as Tirupati district following demands from various quarters.

Significantly, the demand for Kuppam revenue division was met as the government has been laying special focus on the constituency being represented by TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu to gain an upper hand. The people of the constituency have seriously demanded the revenue division and Naidu also wrote to the government to take a favourable decision on this. Now, the revenue division is set up to send positive vibes in the segment. It will have four mandals of the constituency and two mandals Baireddipalle and V Kota from Palamaner segment.

Along with Kuppam, in the revised proposals, two more revenue divisions at Srikalahasti and Nagari are set to be announced in addition to Palamaner, which was already in the proposals whereas the erstwhile district is having three revenue divisions Tirupati, Chittoor and Madanapalle.

In the new set up, Tirupati district will have Tirupati, Srikalahasti, Gudur and Sullurpet revenue divisions and Chittoor, Palamaner, Nagari and Kuppam revenue divisions will be in Chittoor district. Madanapalle division will become part of Annamayya district along with Rayachoti and Rajampet.

Earlier, the government proposed Naidupet division and Srikalahasti and Satyavedu segments were included in it. But, there was huge demand from legislators and people of these two segments for Srikalahasti division which the government has considered.

Nagari MLA RK Roja asked the CM to merge her segment with Tirupati district which is now in Chittoor district. TDP also demanded the same. Though this demand was turned down, the government tried to satisfy Roja by announcing a revenue division with Nagari as headquarters.

But, under the revised proposals Puttur and Vadamalapet in Nagari constituency are included in Tirupati revenue division though they are in Chittoor district. Nagari, Nindra and Vijayapuram along with four other mandals of Nagari division will continue to be part of Chittoor district which may lead to some confusion. Similarly, five segments in Chandragiri constituency were included in Tirupati district. Now, Pakala mandal has been withdrawn and included in Chittoor revenue division.

Also, out of six mandals in Venkatagiri constituency which were earlier made a part of Tirupati district, three mandals have been included in Nellore district. As such, the whole constituencies are not confined to one district but will become part of two districts. This is clearly a deviation from the original idea of forming new districts with parliamentary constituency limits as the criteria.

However, the objections of people from western parts to set up a new district with Madanapalle as headquarters were not considered despite prolonged agitations led by Madanapalle Jilla Sadhana Samithi.