Telangana to add 17 new districts for good luck

Telangana to add 17 new districts to make it a state of 27 districts Government sets website to elicit feedback from people for 30 days 15 new revenue divisions and 46 new mandals to come into existence Plan to increase the number of Assembly constituencies from 119 to 153 underway

Telangana is about to see a massive reorganisation; the state government has issued a draft notification for the creation of 17 new districts to make Telangana a state of 27 districts.  At present, the state has 10 districts including its capital Hyderabad.

Why 27 districts? What’s so special about the number 27?

According to sources, the numeral 27, whose total is nine, is the lucky number of the state.

The lucky number is calculated based on the date and muhurtham of the creation of the state.  

Besides new districts, the state government is also looking to create new mandals; the building blocks of the revenue administration and new revenue divisions.

As many as 15 new revenue divisions and 46 new mandals will come into existence along with the creation of the new districts.

After several protests against the new districts erupted from Sircilla (the constituency of the CM’s son and IT minister KT Ramarao), Janagaon, and the Congress-run Gadwal, the state government has invited the public, including political parties to submit their objections to the proposal within 30 days.

A new website (newdistrictsformation.gov.in) has been set up to elicit feedback from people about the formation of new districts within a month.  

The proposed districts are: Acharya Jayashankar, Jagtial, Kamareddy, Komaram Bheem, Kothagudem, Mahabubabad, Malkajgiri, Nagarkurnool, Nirmal, Peddapally, Sangareddy, Shamshabad, Siddipet, Suryapet, Wanaparthy, Hanamkonda and Yadadri.

While releasing the draft notification, deputy chief minister and revenue minister Mohammad Mahmood Ali said that the composition of new district as mentioned in the draft was not final.  

“Finality will be arrived at only after receiving the objections from the public," he said.

"The state reorganisation will be conducted in accordance with the Telangana Districts Formation Act, 1974 and the Telangana District Formation Rules, 2016. The  reorganisation of districts and the division of mandals is based on area, population, demand under the land revenue and other revenues, historical association, geographical contiguity, physical features, common interests and problems, cultural and educational requirements, infrastructural facilities and economic progress of the areas," Ali added.

Out with the old, in with the new

Following Telangana’s split from Andhra Pradesh to form a new state on June 2, 2014, the TRS government has been trying to revamp the state and give it an entirely new look to break free from what the protagonists of "T-movement" often described as the Andhra "colonia " past.

The revamp will include changing the names of the buildings, schemes etc, named after Andhra leaders. 

The state secretariat that was built during the Andhra Pradesh rule and centres like Ravindra Bharati, a state centre for culture and arts are being rebuilt to signify the new beginning.

Even the city of Hyderabad is all set to wear a new look.

All on-going irrigation projects have been scrapped and will be redesigned, a move that the Congress party is strongly opposed to.

The next major target is to increase the number of Assembly constituencies from the existing 119 to 153.