Inclusion of 496 villages in Scheduled Areas on anvil

Vijayawada: Tribal welfare minister Gummidi Sandhya Rani on Monday informed the Assembly that proposals to declare 496 villages with over 50 per cent tribal population as Scheduled Areas are under active consideration.

Responding to a query from MLA Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy, the minister explained that the process involves scrutiny at multiple levels—from the district collector to the Tribal Advisory Council, state Cabinet, Governor, and finally the Union ministry of tribal affairs.

She said Anakapalli district administration has been asked to submit a report on including certain villages in Madugula constituency, where nine gram panchayats comprising 60 villages with a tribal population of more than 25,000 have been identified. Sandhya Rani detailed the criteria laid down by the Centre for declaring Scheduled Areas: high tribal population, regional compactness, suitability as an administrative unit, and economic backwardness compared to neighboring areas.

Highlighting welfare measures, she said the government allocated ₹8,159 crore for tribal welfare this year. Major projects include construction of 1,069 km of roads under the Adavi Thalli Baata scheme with an outlay of Rs 1,005 crore, installation of BSNL towers at a cost of Rs 3.45 crore, and free supply of 200 electricity units per family per month under the Babu Jagjivan Ram scheme.

The minister reiterated the government’s commitment to improving education, healthcare, employment, transport, and infrastructure in tribal areas, and assured more initiatives would be rolled out soon.