All-party meet may discuss increasing number of Telangana districts

Chief Secretary Dr Rajiv Sharma on Wednesday held a review meeting with district Collectors at the Telangana Secretariat and asked them to prepare a plan of modalities to raise the number of districts as desired by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. In the crucial meeting, the Chief Secretary took stock of the discussions already held by them at MCR HRD on the need for formation of new districts on Tuesday. The conference would take a decision only after KCR addresses the issue. The State government plans to hold an all-party meeting to elicit opinions of the leaders of various political parties on raising the number of districts. Sources in the Secretariat said an all-party meet would help garner support to avoid future skirmishes and if necessary they would go in for public approval. The Collectors reportedly got ready with a preliminary draft plans on increasing the number of districts to 30, though the State government was planning to increase the number to 24 or 25 from the existing 10 districts. The CM’s plan will raise the number of the districts for administrative ease and speedy governance with a focus on transparency and accountability. By the way, the mandals and divisions will also be increased as part of increasing the districts. The Chief Minister is keen on announcing the new districts by August this year.