Resentment continues over the announcement of new districts, with two more constituencies voicing demand to get tagged to the Tirupati-headquartered Sri Balaji district.
Nagari, the tail-end constituency of Chittoor district bordering Tamil Nadu, and Railway Koduru in Kadapa have flagged the issue citing contiguity.
As per the new proposal, Nagari will continue to be under Chittoor, while Railway Koduru will become part of the new Annamayya district headquartered at Rayachoti. If the government’s contention of getting governance to the people’s doorsteps is the essence of such a mammoth exercise, it is feared to remain a far cry in these far-flung constituencies.
In fact, ‘Sri Balaji’ district was the proposal mooted way back in the 1980s by former Chief Minister the late N.T. Rama Rao, which included merger of Railway Koduru from Kadapa and Venkatagiri from Nellore into the Tirupati-based district. The Stamps and Registration department already acknowledges such a bifurcation, as the documents already bear the name ‘Sri Balaji registration district’.
Nagari has seldom raised a banner of revolt, but is voicing concern in a hushed tone fearing repercussion. A resident of the last village in Vijayapuram mandal on the Tamil Nadu border will have to travel 100 km to reach Chittoor, but Tirupati is just 70 km away. In fact, Tirupati Urban Development Authority (TUDA) extends up to Nagari, giving enough indication of its proximity.
“The entire exercise is not only aimed at diverting people’s attention from employees’ agitation, but is also fraught with irrational and skewed distribution,” alleges CPI national Secretary K. Narayana, who hails from Nagari mandal. He observed that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was ‘buying trouble’ by not sticking to his word of making a district out of every parliamentary constituency.
Similarly, the border of Koduru is just 30 km from Tirupati, from where a citizen will have to travel over 120 km to reach Rayachoti.
“Rayachoti is far away. If Rajampeta is not considered, Koduru will be better placed in Sri Balaji district”, says the TDP’s constituency in-charge Kasturi Viswanatha Naidu, who also participated in the relay hunger strike under the aegis of Koduru JAC.
Koduru is also part of an ecologically-fragile river valley and Seshachalam hill ranges. “In order to protect the pristine Seshachalam hills and forest, it will be better to form a hill council comprising Tirupati, Koduru, Rapur and Pileru”, observes Abraham Thomas, a Koduru-based medical practitioner and nature activist.
