VIJAYAWADA: Mangalagiri and Tadepalli, with road and rail connectivity, will be developed as model towns with the merger of 12 adjacent villages.
Chinna Kakani, Atmakur, Yerrabalem, Bethapudi and Nowluru are to be merged into Mangalagiri. Undavalli, Penumaka, Kolanukonda, Kunchanapalli, Vaddeswaram, Gundimeda and Prathuru will form part of Tadepalli. The government is conducting public hearings in these villages to secure the approval of the locals for the merger.
As many as 31,571 people lived in Undavalli, Penumaka, Kolanukonda, Kunchanapalli, Vaddeswaram, Gundimeda and Prathuru and 33,944 live in Chinna Kakani, Atma-kur, Yerrabalem, Bethapudi and Nowluru.
There were allegations that the TD government did not develop Mangalagiri because YSRC leader Alla Ramakrishna Reddy won from there in 2014. The YSRC leaders several times demanded that the TD government develop Mangalagiri but in vain. During the recent elections, TD supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu's son N. Lokesh contested from Mangalagiri and promised to develop the constituency but lost to Mr Ramakrishna Reddy. YSRC leaders said that with the party in power, Mangalagiri would be developed and welcomed the merger of five villages into the town.
A pro-TD farmer, Mr D. Venkateswarlu, said there was a lot of scope for developing the villages in Amravati, but the merger will mean these villages lose the benefits of LPS in Amaravati.
They said they opposed the merger in the public hearing programme but in vain.
Mr Ramakrishna Reddy alleged that Mr Naidu despite living in Undavalli never developed Tadepalli and Mangalagiri. He alleged that TD government did not sanction funds even for the development of the roads. He said that the YSRC government decided to develop Mangalagiri and Tadepalli into model towns with the merger of villages with `1,500 crore funds.
