ELURU: The gram sabha of Sanivarapupet panchayat on the city outskirts on Sunday expressed its strong opposition to the Government's proposal for merger of 12 contiguous gram panchayats, including Sanivarapupet, with the Eluru Municipal Corporation (EMC).

The gram sabha was convened by the panchayat secretary N. Tagore in a bid to enlist objections, if any, from the villagers in the wake of a Special Notification issued by the State Government in February proposing to effect the merger.

The gram sabha passed a resolution seeking exclusion of Sanivarapupet from the list of villages proposed to be merged with the EMC.

The village sarpanch G. Vijayalakshmi of Telugu Desam Party was in the chair. TDP's former Minister Maradani Ranga Rao and M. Vasanta Rao of Communist Party of India (CPI) extended support for the cause of the villagers.

Infrastructure

Mr. Ranga Rao said the city did not have adequate infrastructure and resources to get a corporation status. Gram sabhas should be taken into confidence while implementing the merger proposal.

Urbanisation would badly affect the agri-based development in the surrounding villages, he said.

When the Eluru municipality was presently not in a position to even supply potable drinking water, how could it be able to cater to the needs of the larger number of people after its upgradation into a corporation, he wondered.

N. Subba Rao, former principal of Sir C.R. Reddy College, appealed to the people from the surrounding villages to get ready for a long-term struggle against the proposal.

"It's a common phenomenon that taxes will be more and development less in any urban area. The status of corporation will be a burden on poor and middle class people," he said. He criticised the local MLA and MP for allegedly not responding to public opinion on the merger.

K.B.G. Tilak and Jasti Indrabhogeswara Rao, leaders of Ikya Vedika, a forum against the Government's proposal for merger of villages with the EMC, said efforts were on to build public opinion in the other surrounding villages also against the merger proposal.

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