Pottangi: Odisha government’s attempts to make Kotia panchayat under Pottangi block in Koraput district free from the Andhra Pradesh encroachment appear to be going nowhere, if latest developments in the region are anything to go by.
According to locals, the Andhra Pradesh government is going ahead with its plans to conduct panchayat elections in the three newly-formed panchayats.
While two of these sarpanch candidates will win uncontested, the villagers of the third panchayat are learnt to be going to exercise their franchise coming February 13. All the arrangements for the election are at final stages.
According to sources, the Andhra Pradesh government has renamed Ganjeipadar village of Kotia panchayat as Ganjei Bhadra panchayat. In this panchayat, Dambu Gemel, Bishu Gemel and Dibakar Gemel had filed their nominations as sarpanch candidates. Later, Dambu and Bishu withdrew their nomination papers paving way for Dibakar to be the sarpanch of Ganjei Bhadra panchayat.
Similarly, the Andhra Pradesh government has changed the name of Phagunasineri village of Kotia panchayat to Patugu Chenuru. For the panchayat election here, Kuneti Kusuamma, wife of Beturu Hareka, had filed her nomination papers for sarpanch post. Since she is the sole candidate, she has already been considered as the next sarpanch of newly-formed Patugu Chenuru panchayat.
The third village of Kotia panchayat where the panchayat election will be held is Phatusinery area which has been renamed as Patuchenuru by the Andhra Pradesh government. Here, Kami Himirika, Kondapali Paidi Taliamma from Belagabalasa village in Andhra Pradesh and Sidharapo Kami from Phatusinery village have filed their nomination papers for sarpanch post. Meanwhile, Kami Himirika has withdrawn his nomination papers, leaving only two contestants in the race.
Notably, Phatusinery, or Patuchenuru panchayat has eight wards. There are 1027 voters in 32 villages. The villagers said they will participate in the election February 13. Sub-collector Bijay Kher and Salur tehsildar K Sribas Rao from Andhra Pradesh had paid a visit to Kotia Monday to review preparations ahead of polls.