Telangana dusts off new district plan; K Chandrasekhar Rao to meet officials

Hyderabad: After a month-long hiatus, the Telangana state government is about to begin the process of reorganisation of districts once again. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has convened a meeting with senior officials on Thursday to finalise the proposals for new districts. The draft notification is expected in the second week of this month.

The process of creating new districts had halted after June 30, when the CM had convened the last meeting with legislators and TRS leaders to take their views on new districts.

The demand for creation of Siricilla district from Karimnagar and Nirmal district from Adilabad had come to the fore in this meeting. The Chief Minister had directed officials to examine both demands and submit a report whether the two districts were viable or not.

Revenue officials are expected to submit a report on this issue. Sources meanwhile said officials felt that Siricilla district would not be viable as it would be too small. The CM was supposed to hold an all-party meeting in the first week of July to take the views of all political parties on the new districts.

However, with the launch of Haritha Haram on July 8 and with the entire government machinery engaged in planting of saplings, the process had come to a halt.

With the Dasara deadline for launching new districts only two months away, the government has now stepped up efforts to expedite the process. Officials are expected to submit a detailed roadmap to the CM on the new districts by incorporating enough precautions to see that the entire process doesn’t land in legal trouble.

While Mr Rao is keen on creation of 14 new districts, taking the total to 24, officials are not ruling out the possibility of a 25th district, for which Nirmal and Vikarabad are competing.