Proposed Districts of Telangana

The government of Telangana is contemplating to create new districts in the state for better administration and has proposed to spend INR 100 crore for each of them. Earlier, in June 2016, some 13 new districts were expected to come up and plans for the same had gained impetus following the then-held Collectors’ Conference.

Telangana Issued Draft Notification for Reorganisation of Districts

On August 22, 2016, the Government of Telangana issued a draft notification for the state’s districts reorganization and mandals, excluding Hyderabad, adding 4 more districts to the initial count of 13 and making it 17, and increasing the total number from the existing 10 districts. K. Chandrashekar Rao, the state’s chief minister earlier said that two all-party meetings will be organized to finalize the recently added districts. One of the two meetings convened on August 19 and everybody present backed the ruling government’s move. The sources in the media reported that the party members are required to suggest, complain, or raise concern on the draft proposals within 30 days either with the Secretary to government in Revenue Department, Commissioner of Land Revenue/Commissioner of Land Administration through the Collector of the district concerned. A website ‘www.newdistrictsformation.telangana.gov.in’ was launched in this regard.

Names of the districts

The proposed new districts are: Acharya Jayashankar, Hanamkonda, Jagtial, Kamareddy, Komaram Bheem, Kothagudem, Mahabubabad, Malkajgiri, Nagarkurnool, Nirmal, Peddapally, Sangareddy, Shamshabad, Siddipet, Suryapet, Wanaparthy and Yadadri. The state government is also looking to add almost 90 mandals; the newest state in India has already 464 mandals. The government will also allot approximately 30 acres of land for constructing government buildings in headquarters of the new districts. Rao has also given instructions to the Collectors that buildings and land be identified so that the infrastructure for the new districts is in place. The government is looking to create a district named Rajanna from Karimnagar. It is supposed to be located near Vemulawada and Sircilla. A district named Vikrabad will be created from Ranga Reddy. The CM is supposed to meet the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration, Collectors, Principal Revenue Secretary and senior officers in the state’s police force separately to discuss how Hyderabad and the remainder of Ranga Reddy can be fragmented. It is also expected that Karimnagar will be given a new name. The process of finding names for the proposed districts is going on actively at present. The newer version of Karimnagar is expected to be named after P.V. Narasimha Rao, Mancherial will come to be known as Komram Bheem, Bhoopalpally will be known as Kothapally Jayashanker, Bhongir will be Yadadri and Kothagudem will be called Bhadradri. Bhadradri will be created from Khammam and Mancherial will be carved out from Adilabad. Yadadri and Suryapet will be created from Nalgonda; Sangareddy and Siddipet will be carved out from Medak and Mahbubnagar will also make space for Nagakurnool and Wanaparthy. It is also expected that Acharya Jayashankar will result from Bhoopalpally, Jagital will come out of Karimnagar and Warangal will have to make space for Mahbubabad. The government has also asked revenue officers to submit proposals for reorganizing mandals on or before 20th June. It is expected that each district will have around 20 mandals. Incidentally Yadadri and Bhadrachalam – yet another to become a new district – are both temple towns. A new district called Sreenivas Janyala could be created on the outer parts of Hyderabad. It will house the IT corridor as well as the growing township.

Names in public domain

K.C. Rao feels that the list of proposed districts needs to be made available to the public so that they can provide their suggestions. In fact, public hearings were conducted in villages before 15th August when the draft notification for new districts was released. The new districts are expected to come into being on Dasara, which will be celebrated on 11th October in the state.

Benefits of the decision

According to Raymond Peter, Chief Commissioner of Land Affairs, the new districts would help the government and administration function in a better way. The public would also be benefited as delivery of services will get far improved than before. As stated by Peter, there is already space for creation of new districts in the state considering the fact that, on an average, the number of people living in each district of Telangana is greater than the rest of the country, that is, 35 lakh compared to 19 lakh. The present scenario has created problems for administrations with bigger jurisdictions as they have to make do with lesser resources. People have to cover long distances and this has only made their expenses shoot up – something that can be avoided easily by having smaller administrative units.

Advantages in Ranga Reddy

It is expected that people in Ranga Reddy stand to gain once the new district structure becomes operative and all the offices are available at one place. Right now government offices in the district are spread across 40 different locations. At Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy there are no assembly segments or revenue mandals. There is not even a village in these names. Constituencies such as Ibrahimpatnam and Maheshwaram are part of the revenue division of Saroornagar, where people don’t enjoy proper access to the office of RDO. People over here need to visit Malakpet in order to meet the agricultural officer, and the animal husbandry and horticulture officers are at Red Hills. Uppal houses the Rural Water Supply Office and the fisheries office is at Mallepally. Nampally houses the cooperative officer in charge of Ibrahimpatnam subdivision but the distance between both is 50 km. Nallakunta is where the mining offices are and the police offices at Vikarabad are 100 km from the eastern part of the district. There is a district collectorate at Lakdikapul but then there are not many departments over there. So, one can jolly well understand what will happen once the new structure is implemented. Read More: Telangana Map Telangana District Map Telangana Outline Map Telangana Location Map Andhra Pradesh after Formation of Telangana