Coal miners to decide the fate of Bhupalpally

Bhupalpally: Notwithstanding the fact that Bhupalpally, once a dusty village that metamorphosed into a district headquarters within no time, still falls short of infrastructure and other amenities. With barely 10 days to go for the municipal polls, the ruling TRS, which crashed to second position in terms of votes it secured in the 2018 Assembly election, wants to set its record straight by hoisting its flag on the municipality.

The habitation since it became a Gram Panchayat in 1981 witnessed a rapid growth due to increasing coal mining by the State-owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL). In 2012, the Gram Panchayat was upgraded to Nagar Panchayat. After the State Government carved out a new district with Bhupalpally as its headquarters in 2016, the Nagar Panchayat was elevated to Grade III Municipality in 2017.

First time the election to the Bhupalpally Nagar Panchayat was held in 2012. Then it had 20 wards. Now the number wards have been increased to 30. The number of electorates is little over 50,000 with male voters slightly dominating over women. The State Election Commission (SEC) has reserved municipal chairperson post to the Women - SC category.

It may be mentioned here that lion share of credit goes to former Speaker Sirikonda Madhusudhana Chary, who represented Bhupalpally in the Assembly between 2014 and 2018 for the town development.

Due to his proximity with Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, he was able to secure funds for the development of the town. He was largely instrumental in the development of Bhupalpally constituency, especially town. The road widening and the street lighting gave a new look to the town during his term.

With the town spreading in leaps and bounds, quite a few new colonies have come up in the town. However, of late there was no developmental activity in the town. As a result, several colonies didn't have side drains and proper road facilities. This apart, the town is also mired in drinking water, sanitation and other issues.

Meanwhile, the Congress led by constituency in-charge Konda Muralidhar Rao looks to consolidate its position in the municipality. It may be mentioned here that Madhusudhana Chary who contested on TRS ticket lost to Gandra Venkataramana Reddy of the Congress in the 2018 Assembly election. However, Reddy shifted loyalties to the TRS soon after the Lok Sabha elections. Even though the people had voted for the Congress in the Assembly election, the TRS is likely to be benefited in the municipal elections as both the former and present MLAs – Chary and Reddy – are with the ruling party. It may be noted here that majority people in the town had voted for Congress (Gandra Venkataramana Reddy) in the Assembly election ignoring Chary. The outcome of the municipal election is largely dependent on Singareni employees' mood.