Andhra Pradesh starts process for delimitation of districts from 13 to 25

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government took a step towards the reorganisation of districts in the state by forming a committee to study and finalise the number of smaller districts to pave way for better governance.

Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy, during his election campaign, had promised smaller districts for better administration. Towards this end, the Cabinet has approved the study panel report on the delimitation of districts along the line of Parliament constituencies.

The state information minister, Perni Nani, told reporters after a Cabinet meeting here on Wednesday, that a committee would be formed to study the issue of delimiting the existing 13 districts to 25 or more and submit a report at the earliest.

The committee will be headed by the chief secretary along with CCLA commissioner, secretary of general administration, secretary of the planning department, a representative from the Chief Minister's Office, with the principal secretary of finance as the convenor.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to appoint 9,712 personnel in the medical and health department, including doctors, nurses, and technicians. Of these, 5,701 are newly-formed posts. The state will also recruit 420 teaching and 178 non-teaching staff for the RGUKT (IIIT) institutions in Srikakulam and Ongole. Besides, a Rs. 9 crore veterinary polytechnic college will come up at Kommamarri in Kurnool with a student intake of 30 from the academic year 2020-21. A similar facility will also come up at Anantapur later, the state has said.

The state government has also given its consent to withdraw cases filed against teachers and government employees during the agitation for opposing the contributory pension scheme (CPS). Cases filed against people for attacking the old Guntur police station will also be withdrawn.