Telangana to have 24 districts, hints K Chandrasekhar Rao

Hyderabad: Telangana State is all set to have 24 districts, including 14 new ones,  and 74 new mandals by Dasara. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday placed CCLA proposals before ministers and TRS legislators at a closed-door meeting at the HICC here on Wednesday.

He promised to convene an all-party meeting soon to brief the Opposition on the government’s decision. For the first time, Mr Rao specifically hinted of having 24 districts and 73/74 mandals as suggested by the CCLA.

The figure ‘24’ is incidentally Mr Rao’s “lucky number” (2+4=6). Asking party leaders to ignore Opposition criticism, the CM made it clear that the new districts and mandals were being carved out for administrative convenience, public needs and not on political grounds.

As sought, party leaders gave suggestions and proposals for new districts to TRS secretary general K. Kesava Rao. Some of these suggestions included Jangaon district from E. Dayakar Rao, T. Rajaiah and Muthireddy and trifurcation of Hyderabad from city MLAs. Proposed districts in Medak and Nizamabad were unanimously accepted.

“Undivided AP and West Bengal are the only two states in country which did not reorganise districts. Smaller districts ensure effective administration. We are losing out on district-specific Central funds besides Navodaya and Kendriya Vidyalayas. New districts will be unveiled by Dasara,” Mr Rao said.

He said that legislators should have full knowledge about the reorganisation of districts. Explaining the composition of new districts, the CM said each district will have about 20 mandals. Assembly constituencies by and large will be within the district  and so will be the mandals.

“Each district headquarter should become the growth engine. We need not bother about unwarranted Opposition criticism,” he said. Mr Rao explained that the country has 683 districts for a population of 125 crore. While the average population of a district in the country was 18.3 lakh, TS districts have 36 lakh population, which was quite abnormal.