Dayakar Rao says Bhadrachalam cannot be upgraded into municipality

Hyderabad: The State Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao on Saturday clarified that there was no scope for upgrading 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 in the Assembly, Dayakar said as per Part A of Article 243ZC3 of the Constitution, Scheduled area expansion was not allowed, hence Bhadrachalam cannot be upgraded to a municipality.

"The State government too wants to upgrade Bhadrachalam into a municipality, but it cannot do so as the Constitution does not allow it," he said.

The Minister agreed that going by the population of the Bhadrachalam, which has crossed one lakh, it should be upgraded into a municipality, but the government was helpless due to Constitutional hurdles. He said a similar demand had come from Kumram Bheem Asifabad and Sarapaka in Bhadradri Kothagudem district, but they too could not be upgraded into municipalities, due to Constitutional compulsions.

He said that since Bhadrachalam could not be upgraded into a municipality, the State cabinet had decided to divide it into three Gram Panchayats. Veeraiah stated that division of Bhadrachalam into three gram panchayats had created more problems than resolving it. He said that if Bhadrachalam was upgraded as a municipality, better facilities could be provided to the residents.

The Bhadrachalam gram panchayat was constituted in 1962 and later upgraded as a major gram panchayat. The last election held to the local body was in 2013 and its term was completed in 2018.