AP Districts Reorganisation: Andhra May Have Same Number Of Districts As Telangana

AMARAVATI: Reorganisation of districts in Andhra Pradesh, with each Lok Sabha constituency as the base has become a challenging task for officials given the various geographical and topographical reasons. As per reports the number of districts is set to increase to more than 25, from the existing 13, in line with the ruling YSR Congress Party's promise with each Lok Sabha constituency as the base.

A high-level official committee, headed by the state Chief Secretary, Nilam Sawhney is in the process of conducting these deliberations. After following several rounds of deliberations, officials involved in the exercise are in the opinion that the state may eventually end up with more than the proposed 25-26 districts. "What happened in neighbouring Telangana could repeat in AP as well. They initially wanted to have 20 districts (after the state bifurcation) but ended up creating 31 and later making it 33. We may more or less match that," a top bureaucrat noted. Reorganisation of districts was intended to ensure ease of administration and accessibility to people as the present districts were large and have become "unwieldy to administer," the government had stated.
"The state government is committed in its endeavour to take governance to the doorsteps of the citizens, with the avowed objective of improving their lives and enhancing their satisfaction," it said, elaborating on the need for reorganisation.

"The problem is not general but specific to certain (Lok Sabha) constituencies and districts. Since the Araku parliamentary constituency is spread over four districts now, the government came up with a proposal to split it into two new districts, thereby taking the total to 26.
Araku is one case but there are many such segments where the Assembly constituencies under a Lok Sabha segment are split between districts. Going ahead with the current plan may lead to a new problem as there is a chance of some Assembly segments getting torn between (new) districts," a top official involved in the high-level committee pointed out.

Parallel to the efforts of the state administration, the police department too has come out with its own proposals for division of its units, suggesting creation of 22 police districts and seven commissionerates. Director General of Police D G Sawang held a high- level meeting with his department officials across the state last week and chalked out plans for the reorganisation of the police set up, proposing new units more or less co-terminus with the proposed (new) revenue districts.