The Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh has issued gazette notifications on formation of 13 new districts after the reorganisation of existing 13 districts in the state.
But according to sources, there is a long way to go for the completion of the process of the formation of the new districts.
As per the notification, objections from the people and people’s organisations would be called for till February 26.
Taking the objections, if any, into account, the government would issue a final notification. In all probability, the government is expected to bring the new districts into existence with effect from April 2, coinciding with Ugadi festival, the Telugu New Year Day.
The new districts are being formed as per the AP District Formation Act, 1974. It would also enable the government to form new revenue divisions and reorganisation of mandals.
However, there is still one more hurdle before the Jagan government. The Central government had issued a notification in the past asking the states not to make any changes in the geography of the existing villages and towns till the completion of the National Census.
The delimitation of districts is frozen till such time. Even the state revenue department had issued a memo to that effect. The freezing orders are still in vogue, as the Census process was not going on in full scale due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Sources said though the freezing orders do not prevent the state government from going ahead with the delimitation exercise, it cannot bring the exercise into implementation.
So, unless the Census process is completed, the new districts would not come into existence, sources said.
One wonders whether the census exercise would be completed by Ugagi. If it doesn’t happen, then the process would take more time.
