The Hindu 26.06.2013
CM okays merger of Anakapalle and Bhimili with GVMC
Ganta says Vizag will become eligible to get more funds after the merger.
Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday gave his
approval for the merger of Anakapalle and Bhimunipatnam municipalities
and 10 other villages with GVMC.
Confirming this to
The Hindu
, Minister for Infrastructure and Investment Ganta Srinivasa Rao who
pitched for the merger in spite of stiff opposition from his party
leaders, said the Chief Minister had signed the file and the GO relating
to the merger would be issued soon.
Apart from the
two municipalities, the 10 villages to be merged with the GVMC are: K.
Nagarapalem, Kapuluppada, Chepaluppada, Nidigattu, J V Agraharam, Thadi,
Salapuvanipale, Rajupalem, Valluru and Koppaka.
The
merger was opposed by Pradesh Congress Committee president Botcha
Satyanarayana, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry D.
Purandeswari, Tribal Welfare Minister P. Balaraju, Visakhapatnam North
MLA Tyanala Vijay Kumar from the Congress and his East counterpart V.
Ramakrishnababu (TDP).
The merger was opposed mainly
one two grounds – that the expectations of people in the 32 gram
panchayats earlier merged forming GVMC were not met and the unique
character of Bhimunipatnam, the oldest municipality in the State has to
be retained.
However, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said the
merger would push the population to more than 20 lakh from the present
18.5 lakh making it eligible for a metro rail project.
“Besides
the city would be eligible to get more funds for development under the
next phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and
the slum development programme Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY),” he said.
Development would get a thrust, he said.
He asserted that the unique and historic importance of Bhimili would be maintained and improved under the GVMC.
Countering
the argument that the expectations of people were not met in the GVMC
after it was formed 2005, he said that about Rs.1,500 crore was spent in
the areas earlier merged in the GVMC and Gajuwaka alone accounted for
Rs.500 crore.
