Vijayawada: 'Machilipatnam will get its due'

Vijayawada: Krishna district chamber of commerce president Maddula Girish Kumar welcomed the decision of the government for bifurcation of the district. He felt Machilipatnam region had been neglected for a long time and most collectors used to stay in Vijayawada. He said Machilipatnam region would be developed if the district officials stay in Machilipatnam and supervise the administration. He said the government had taken a good decision on creation of new district with headquarter at Vijayawada.

Retired lecturer Turlapati Koteswara Rao of Nandigama welcomed the decision of the government on creation of new district with headquarters Vijayawada. He said the people of Nandigama and Jaggaiahpet and other mandal face many problems to go the present district headquarters Machilipatnam. He said now the people can save time and money if the new district is created with Vijayawada as headquarters. He said plenty of buses will be available to go to Vijayawada.

Dr T Sevakumar of Guntur welcomed the decision of the state government to form new districts in the state and added that the Telangana state has already formed new districts for better administration. He said similarly, the AP government will form the new districts now and recalled that at present the people of Macherla coming to collectorate and SP office in Guntur city to solve their problems.

A senior citizen A Anjaneyulu felt that the government should have formed the new districts long ago. If the new districts were formed immediately after the bifurcation of the state, new districts would have new buildings and infrastructure in place by now. He said people will be benefited with the decentralisation of the administration.

SV Mallikarjunam, Retired Senior Manager, Indian Bank, Nellore said though there will be convenience for the common people, but administrative costs will increase due to reorganisation of districts. In the case of Nellore, the district is losing its prestigious SHAR Space Rocket Launching Centre which gives some identity to the area. Secondly, it is no use merging the areas with the proposed Tirupati district and the government should have considered plight of upland areas of Nellore close to Kadapa district. They should have considered either Kavali or Udayagiri for creating a new district for resolving problems of the region, he said adding that the move is for political rehabilitation only, seems.

P Dandapani, of Mangalam in Tirupati said the new districts' proposals are more or less good. "We thought that our Mangalam area may go into Chittoor district which is far away compared to Tirupati as we are part of this city. But, the government has included our Chandragiri constituency in the proposed Tirupati district only which will be more convenient. Any district headquarters within the reach will benefit the people immensely as they can approach the district officials easily without having much strain to go far off places. Balaji district demand was there for a long time which may become a reality soon," he added.

PTM Siva Prasad, convenor, Madanapalle Jilla Sadhana Samiti, says new districts should be for administrative convenience and to have to be more convenient to the people. "But, the government has done a lot of injustice to Madanapalle which has more population and historical significance. It has ignored our sentiments here and announced Rayachoti as headquarters which is not acceptable to us. We want the government to reconsider the proposal and announce Madanapalle district," he added.

Gajula Khadar Basha, a trader, of Kadapa district while appreciating the credibility of YSRCP government in keeping its word on new districts said that formation of new districts concept wa totally wrong.

Speaking to The Hans India, he said that when the state is facing serious financial crisis such decision would not yield any fruitful results, instead it will leads to regional imbalances between various areas.

"After formating Annamayya district, Rayachoti town will become district headquarters. But where is the money for setting up collectorate, district police office and establishment of 100 plus departments, required staff buildings and other infrastructure facilities, questioned.

He said that in case they are all provided, people have to come to Rayachoti from Rajampet, Railway Kodur in Kadapa district travelling 70 km distance by crossing two huge ghat sections.

He said that similar situation is prevailing for people of Chittoor district whose Piler, Tomballapalle, Madanapalle constituencies were merged in newly formed Annamayya district. They also have to make around 60 km risky journey to reach district headquarters. He said formation of new district is nothing but an attempt to divert attention of people from ongoing employees' agitation.

While describing government decision formation of Annamayya district as an unimaginable one, C Ramesh Babu resident of NGO Colony Rayachoti town, expressed happiness over the development.

He said that Rayachoti town is a severely drought prone area compared with other areas in Kadapa district. He said that migration of youth to Gulf countries is rampant in Rayachoti constituency due to lack of cultivation.

He said that after Rayachoti becomes headquarters, every facility is being provided in the interest of people coming from neighboring district like Chittoor.

"We have already RDO office, DSP office, big traffic police station in Rayachoti town. After it becomes district headquarters, infrastructure will be developed in a big way," he said.