The Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government’s decision to restructure the existing 13 districts in the state to 25 is said to be not so smooth affair but it requires a massive exercise.
The government on Friday formed a six-member committee of senior officials headed by chief secretary Neelam Sawhney to study the process and work out the formula for reorganisation of districts into 25.
The other members of the committee include Chief Commissioner of Land Revenue, Secretary (Services) of General Administration Department, Planning Commission secretary and a senior official from the Chief Minister’s Office, besides Principal Secretary.
The committee has been asked to submit its report to the government within three months. If the report is ready by November, it will take another two months to complete the whole exercise and Jagan is hoping to divide the state into 25 districts from the new year of 2021.
However, sources say the exercise is easier said than done. During the elections, Jagan had announced that he would convert each parliamentary constituency into a district – it means, each of 25 parliamentary constituencies would become a district.
Though the formula looks very simpler, there has been strong resistance from the people of certain districts to merge their areas with another district, for some of the parliamentary constituencies cover more than two districts.
Similarly, there have been demands in some areas for declaration of them into independent districts.
“The official committee has to take into consideration all these demands and assess the political backlash in those areas before making recommendations,” sources said.
One won’t be surprised if the committee recommends more than 25 districts in order to avoid confrontation from the people, sources said.