Amaravati: Smaller districts for easy governance

Amaravati: After 'delivering 90 per cent' of the welfare promises made to the people in the first year of his governance, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy could now be mulling implementing one more - smaller districts.

The concept of smaller districts is essentially to deliver better governance as compact districts allow greater supervision and follow-up action on programmes. Telangana has already gone for the same.

This issue came to fore once again as the Chief Minister told the District Collectors during a video conference about the need for smaller districts. The Collectors are said to be getting ready to implement the decision if the government announces the same in short notice.

It is being speculated in the political circles that the Chief Minister is planning to go ahead with breaking the 13 districts into 25 and also stall the plans of Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar (to hold the elections to the local bodies) and whose reinstatement has been cleared by the High Court after being reinstated.

The State government could postpone the elections "till the administration settles down" in the process of creating the districts, it is being said so that even if Nimmagadda continues to be the SEC, he would not have any say in the elections.

It may be recalled that the long march of YSR Congress president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has concluded into an assurance of better governance to the doorstep through decentralisation of administration and increasing the districts from 13 to 25 for efficiency and the improvised version of Navaratnalu to benefit all sections of society.

Those in favour of decentralisation with the number of districts increasing from 13 to 25 argue that governance would be transparent and easy and village secretariats would form as the focal points from where all the Navaratnas would reach out to the local populace on saturation basis without looking into political, social or other parameters.