Madanapalle becomes district headquarters from today

 Tirupati: This New Year will be remembered for a long time by the people of the Madanapalle region as their long-pending demand for a district headquarters has finally been fulfilled. The reorganised Annamayya district started functioning with Madanapalle as its headquarters from Wednesday a day ahead of New Year with the government releasing the formal notification on Tuesday, turning a decades-old aspiration into reality. While the decision has brought joy and celebrations in Madanapalle and nearby areas, it has caused deep disappointment in Rayachoti, where people have started strongly opposing the move.

With the new arrangement, the existing Annamayya district has been completely reorganised. Madanapalle, Thamballapalle, Pileru and Rayachoti constituencies will be part of the district along with Punganur. At the same time, Rajampet constituency has been merged into Kadapa district, while Railway Koduru constituency has been included in Tirupati district. From the New Year, all district offices will shift from Rayachoti to Madanapalle, and officials will start functioning from the new headquarters.

Annamayya district was originally formed in 2022 with six constituencies during the previous YSRCP government. While most districts were formed with parliamentary constituencies as their headquarters, Annamayya district was set up with Rayachoti as the district centre instead of Rajampet.

Now, the State Cabinet decided to correct it and since Rayachoti constituency cannot be made into a separate district, it should remain in Annamayya district, while Madanapalle should serve as the district headquarters.

As per the Cabinet decision, the reorganised Annamayya district will have 25 mandals and three revenue divisions. Madanapalle, Rayachoti and the newly created Pileru revenue divisions will function under the district. Rayachoti, Pileru and Thamballapalle constituencies will each have six mandals, Madanapalle constituency will have three mandals, and four mandals from Punganur constituency—Sadum, Somala, Punganur and Chowdepalle—will be merged into Annamayya district.

The remaining two mandals of Punganur constituency, Rompicherla and Pulicherla, will continue under the Chittoor revenue division.

The reorganisation has also brought changes to neighbouring districts. Gudur, Kota and Chillakur mandals have been merged into Nellore district, while Chittamuru and Vakadu mandals will continue in Tirupati district under the Sullurupeta revenue division. With these changes, Tirupati district will now have nine constituencies, having six full constituencies and sharing three other with some mandals from neighbouring districts.

The total number of mandals in Tirupati district will increase from 34 to 36, and its population will rise from 29.04 lakh to 29.47 lakh probably the higheat in the state. Gudur revenue division will move to Nellore district, leaving Tirupati district with three revenue divisions—Tirupati, Srikalahasti and Sullurupeta.

Sullurupeta revenue division will now have 11 mandals with the addition of Vakadu and Chittamuru. Srikalahasti revenue division will also have 11 mandals after the inclusion of Venkatachalam, Balayapalle and Dakkili mandals. Tirupati revenue division will expand to 14 mandals with the addition of Koduru, Obulavaripalle, Chitvel, Pullampeta and Penagaluru mandals from Railway Koduru constituency.

Meanwhile, the latest round of district reorganisation has further reduced the size of Chittoor district. With four mandals from Punganur constituency being merged into Madanapalle district, the number of mandals in Chittoor has come down from 32 to 28. The district’s population has also reduced from 18.72 lakh to 16.43 lakh. However, Chittoor district will continue to have four revenue divisions and four police divisions as before.