Koraput: In a bid to assert Odisha’s jurisdiction in Kotia panchayat in Koraput district and negate claims of neighboring Andhra Pradesh over the area, hundreds of letters were sent through the Kotia post office, Saturday. A team comprising members of Eastern India Philatelic Association (EPA) led by Biswajit Mohanty and other office bearers and Anil Dhir of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and former Collector of undivided Koraput district Sanjeeb Hota visited the panchayat in contention and unveiled an envelope carrying an image of Kotia with its PIN code.
Later, they posted letters from the Kotia post office to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, his Andhra counterpart YS Jaganmohan Reddy, all legislators of both the states, and several other prominent persons in the country. The letters were also sent to the Attorney General and to Odisha’s advocate who is fighting the case in the Supreme Court. It has been mentioned in the letter that Kotia panchayat is in the Koraput district of Odisha. The Union Postal Department has given its approval for which the postal department in Odisha has assigned the postal index (PIN) code for Kotia as 764039.
In the letters, Dhir mentioned that it is futile for the Andhra Pradesh government to lock horns with Odisha over Kotia as the PIN code has received the approval of the Union postal department and Odisha postal division. The state government of Odisha has been submitting various documents to the Supreme Court to substantiate its claim on the Kotia panchayat. Hota said that the PIN assigned to the Kotia post office starts with 76. It is Pottangi’s PIN code and it is also available on ‘Google’. He pointed out that by confirming the PIN code, the Postal department of the Central government has confirmed that Kotia is under the jurisdiction of the Odisha government. It should be stated here that the British government before independence had mentioned in a map prepared in Patna in 1945 that the Pottangi-Tadibalsa heritage road in Kotia panchayat belongs to Odisha.
So even then, Kotia was under the jurisdiction of Odisha. Receipts and other maps are available also point to the fact that residents in Neredibalsa, Tadibalsa, and Elangabalsa villages in Kotia panchayat used to pay taxes to Jeypore zamindars in Koraput district. Notably, the latest incursion from the Andhra Pradesh side into the Kotia area was reported May 4 when officials from Parvathipuram Manyam district visited the region and held discussions with the locals in Phagunsenery and Phatusenery villages.