Much to the delight of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, the Collectors of the existing 10 districts of the State have prepared a draft plan to increase the number of districts to 26 while KCR himself had pushed for only 24 or 25, according to sources.
The draft plan prepared upon the Chief Minister's direction has been vetted by Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma on Monday. The Chief Minister is likely to take a final call in a two-day Collectors' conference that began today.
The announcement about the final number of districts is most likely to be made by KCR on June 21 when the Collectors' conference concludes. The new districts will come into place by Dasara.
Earlier, during a high level review meeting with Collectors at the Secretariat, Sharma discussed the need for reorganization of the districts for administrative ease and smooth governance.
Upon receiving the reports of proposed new districts from the Collectors which were made following appeals and requests from various sections of the people and leaders irrespective of Party lines, the Chief Secretary reportedly gave his nod with some changes.
According to reports, there were protests by people, political parties and people's organizations on the issue at various districts and towns. The people were mostly demanding the state government desist from attempting to include them in a far-off district as their home district was closer. Consequently the new districts will be formed along with reorganization of mandals and divisions as per the directive of the Chief Minister.