Govt yet to take a call on Bhadrachalam’s status

​Kothagudem: Ever since the government has released the list of panchayats , the people of Bhadrachalam and Sarapaka are worried about their towns’ future since there is now mention of these major panchayats on the list. Now they question about the status, particularly, of temple town Bhadrachalam. If it is not a major panchayat then what is it?

The government is planning the panchayat elections within days and the government has released the gazette for new panchayats. As per the new list, the district has been allocated 479 panchayats by the government.

The government had conducted elections in the year 2013 when there were only 274 panchyats with three major grama panchayats -- Bhadrachalam, Sarapaka and Laxmidevi Palli in the district. According the new list, 205 new panchyats are being added this year. The government is set to conduct the elections to around 479 panchayat this year.

The officers also wait for the notification for the panchayat elections. Interestingly,the major panchayats -- Bhadrachalam and Sarapaka’s names are not mentioned in the list of new 479 panchyats issued by the government.

The people of are thinking that these panchayats will now become municipalities that’s why the government did not mention the names in the list of new panchayats. However, even after the announcement of the new lists of panchayats a month ago, the government has not cleared status of the two major panchayats of Bhadrachalam and Sarapaka.

On the other hand, the future of the Bhadrachalam is questioned by everyone because at the time of bifurcation, this area was at loss due to merger of five panchayats of the town and five mandals of the division with Andhara Pradesh.

After that it has been continuing as a major grama panchayat. Now the question is why the government wants to disturb Bhadrachalam where around 75000 people are living in the 21 wards? The government wants to develop it into a temple city that’s why it did not mention its name of panchayats, said the town people of Bhadrachalam.

After the bifurcation, the people of Bhadrachalam are facing the garbage problem. There is no place for dumping the garbage. The panchyat staff shift the garbage collected from the households and dump at the bank of river Godavari.

In the history of Bhadrachalam, previous governments had made it a municipality in 2005 and after that due to some technical problems it was converted into a township and later it was made a grama panchyat. The elections were also conducted here in the year 2013. Now the people are waiting to see whethere Bhadrachalam will be made a municipality or Temple town or Township?

A.Venkteswara Rao, a resident of the Bhadrachalam, said, Bhadrachalam has been at loss after the bifurcation of the state. Now people are waiting to see will it become a municipality or temple town. “The Chief Minister has promised in his visit to the temple he would develop it with Rs100 core. So he is would be planning to make it a temple town,” he said. He also added some technical problems are being raised to make the municipality in this area, so that’s why he requested to the government to make the Bhadrachalam as a temple town.

One Lord Rama’s devotee P.Laxmaiah is of the opinion that the temple town is known as Dhakshina Ayadhya so it is better to make it a temple town. District Panchayat Officer Asha Lath had released the G.O of new panchyats totaling 479 panchayats. When asked about the status of Bhadrachalam, she said,” We have not received the status of the two major panchayats yet by the government.”