Tirupati: Demand for Madanapalle district gathers steam

Tirupati: While the preliminary exercise for the reorganisation of districts is continuing, Madanapalle occupies the centre stage of discussion. Being the largest revenue division in the state, the people of the western parts of district strongly believe that it should be made district headquarters though the area lies in Rajampet parliamentary constituency.

The leaders of Madanapalle Jilla Sadhana Samithi (MJSS) were leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to see that a new district with that town as headquarters would emerge soon. They have so far met MLAs, MPs and Ministers in their bid of fulfilling their demand. However, no leader was able to give any assurance except saying that the government has to take a call on the matter.

Unfazed by the disappointment, MJSS has been protesting relentlessly for the last 535 days. Apart from regular demonstrations in the four mandals which fall under Madanapalli's jurisdiction, they have been organising meetings and lecturers. They hold a demonstration with deaf and dumb persons at Madanapalle bus stand on Saturday and planning Satyagraha on November 26.

Speaking to The Hans India, MJSS convener P T M Sivaprasad said they were confident of getting their demand fulfilled. "It was learnt that a committee has submitted a report to reorganise the districts into 32 and not 26 as was indicated earlier in which Madanapalle was also there. But, we were looking forward to getting Madanapalle district even if the government moves ahead with 26 districts," he averred.

It may be recalled that a list of 32 districts was doing rounds in social media for the past few days according to which parliamentary constituency criteria is not there. It indicates a district with Madanapalle, Thamballapalle, Punganur and Piler while the remaining three segments of Kadapa district – Rajampet, Railway Kodur and Rayachoti along with Badvel will be another district.

Similarly, Tirupati district will have four assembly segments – Tirupati, Srikalahasti, Satyavedu and Chandragiri which is currently part of Chittoor Lok Sabha constituency while the remaining four segments Tirupati LS constituency from Nellore district – Gudur, Sarvepalli, Venkatagiri and Sullurpet will form another district with Gudur as headquarters.

However, officials were tight lipped on any of the proposals. But they were deeply involved in studying the available infrastructure and staff for the reorganisation of districts. In Tirupati, the government has to find a suitable building for the Collectorate. Alternatively, a proposal was under consideration to set up the new collectorate in an engineering college. A clarity on the exact shape of the new districts may arrive soon as the official machinery is moving fast in that direction.