Gutha gives his view on Telangana districts

Mr Reddy however hastened to add that if the government was determined to go ahead with its plans, then the existing 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state should be converted into districts since they were created after thorough deliberations by a panel of experts headed by retired Supreme Court judge.

Stating that the world itself has transformed into a global village due to improved communication facilities, Mr Reddy said that mere bifurcation and reorganisation of the land would not create additional convenience and comfort to the common man. “The state government is already burdened with a huge non-plan budgetary expenditure on account of administration overheads and employee salaries,” he said, adding that a state like TS, which is newly created, should refrain from such fiscal abuse and focus on asset creation.

Mr Reddy said formation of districts corresponding to the parliamentary constituencies comprising seven Assembly segments each would be convenient to administer and the number could be restrained to 17.

“Further, the government can decide the district headquarters after due consultations from all the stakeholders,” Mr Reddy wrote in his letter to Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma.