There has been a lot of dispute going between two neighbouring states of India, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. The dispute has been decades long and is due to the borders and the allegations of both the state of ownership of villages and districts in the border region. Even when, the last dispute over a group of villages in Kotia region is yet to resolve in the High Court, Andhra Pradesh and its government has stirred a new controversy.
The massive controversy is due to the fact that Andhra Pradesh in its new map, without any clarification have named 28 villages of Odisha under their state province. A new map of Andhra Pradesh was created due to a major administrative overhaul that aimed at decentralisation of governance and balanced development. Andhra Pradesh on Monday created 13 new districts taking the total number of provinces in the State to 26.
According to the plan formulated by the Andhra government, the formation of Parvatipuram Manyam district has paved the way for the bordering town of Parbatipuram to act as the new headquarters of Kotia region. The development means that the distance between Kotia and the district headquarters will now come to down to 60 kms as compared to previous 90 km.
Reacting on the development, former MP Jayram Pangi said, “There is a conspiracy of Andhra behind the formation of the new district. The Manyam will be a tribal dominated district. There move aims to woo the residents of the region.” Meanwhile, Tikai Gemel, Zilla Parishad member, Kotia said, “I don’t care about what moves Andhra takes because I know Kotia belongs to Odisha.” Echoing the same opinion, Kotia sarpanch Leo Gemel said, “Kotia belongs to Odisha. We will oppose Andhra if they attempt to include us in their State.”
