Proposal made to merge 64 panchayats with GVMC

Visakhapatnam: About 64 panchayats that falls under Anandapuram, Padmanabham and Bheemili rural mandals of Bheemunipatnam constituency will be merged with Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), informed Bheemunipatnam MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao.

Speaking at media conference held here on Thursday, the MLA said that with the merger proposal, the entire constituency would come under corporation limits.

The MLA informed that he had interacted with the leaders and public representatives of the respective panchayats and taken their views on the proposal.

Srinivasa Rao stated that he has written a letter to Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development P Narayana regarding merging of the mandals.

Briefing about the details, the MLA said that 26 panchayats in Anandapuram mandal, 22 in Padmanabham mandal and 16 in Bheemili rural would be merged with the GVMC. He further assured the locals that taxes will remain stable for ten years once the merger exercise is completed. He said that in 2017, during the TDP’s rule, Kapuluppada, Chepaluppada and other panchayats were merged with the GVMC.

Speaking about Bhogapuram Greenfield International Airport, the MLA said that there is a need to provide adequate infrastructure facilities for the airport which will start its operations by March 2026.

Along with the construction of the airport, parallel elevated corridors, flyover bridges and metro works should also be planned, he said.

Wondering about the attitude of former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Srinivasa Rao said that a ban should be imposed on the YSRCP, which is spreading false campaign against the government during the floods.

If Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan announced a donation of Rs 6 crore from his hard-earned money, while former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who has over Rs 1 lakh crore, declared only Rs 1 crore to the Andhra Pradesh CM’s Relief Fund, Srinivasa Rao said. Referring to the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Jagan, the MLA mentioned that people are closely observing the difference between the leaders.

Ganta Srinivasa Rao lauded the services of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and said he is a role model for the world who helped people recover quickly from natural calamities. He stayed at the flood-affected areas for 11 days and monitored the relief and rescue operations personally with the help of technology.

Srinivasa Rao said that the YSRCP leaders had threatened and looted the lands during the previous government’s rule and all of them would be disclosed under the banner of ‘Vizag files.’ Former MLA Appalanaidu, JSP leaders Panchkarla Sandeep, Sakhari Srinivas, corporators Gadu Chinni Kumari and Lodagala Apparao were present.