TJAC to take on govt on creation of new dists

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao might have won over political parties on the proposed district reorganization, but he is facing opposition from his erstwhile mentor, the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) which is not in full agreement with the government on carving out new districts.
"On creating new districts, we cannot allow the government to take unilateral decisions.There is no clarity on the criteria for division of districts in the draft notification. As a first step, the government must come clear on the criteria and then initiate the required procedure," said TJAC chairman Prof M Kodandaram.
Among other demands the TJAC is putting forth are, that that the scheduled tribal areas be declared as tribal districts and final proclamation of new districts be on the basis of broad-based public opinion. Thus, TJAC wants Adilabad, Bhoopalapally, Mahbubabad and Kothagudem to be tribal districts and insisted on that the government conduct gramasabhas to elicit public opinion on new districts.
"The ongoing exercise will change the very contours of Telangana and it should not be done at the whims and fancies of a few who are running the government. A commission must be in place on the lines Fazl Ali Commission that looked into reorganization of state boundaries in 1956," said political scientist Prof Haragopal. He is particularly opposed to the carving out Shamshabad district, which will include Shadnagar that is now now part of Mahbubnagar district. "We will build the movement by including intelligentsia and civic society. The campaign has already been started and it is going to be intensified," added Haragopal. The main objections raised by TJAC and intelligentsia include protest against Hanamkonda district that will be barely a few kilometres from Warangal district headquarters and the way in which other districts are to be divided. While the government proposed to create Wanaparthy by dividing Mahbubnagar, the TJAC wants Gadwal to be the new district instead.
In Warangal, the organization wants Janagaon to be made a district. It is also throwing its weight behind those demanding district status for Sircilla, now in Karimnagar, while the government is proposing to create Peddapally district after culling it out from Karimnagar.