Koraput: Amid the ongoing border contention over Kotia panchayat in Koraput district, the Andhra Pradesh government Thursday reportedly began its census exercise in the disputed villages situated along the Odisha-Andhra border.
According to local sources, teams from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh entered several border villages in the morning hours and started preliminary household data collection activities.
Officials were reportedly seen visiting remote hamlets located near the interstate boundary as part of the census operation. Local resident and social activist Gopal Pangi stated that Andhra Pradesh teams have started moving around villages connected to the border and are conducting surveys among residents.
He said the exercise has drawn attention in the sensitive Kotia region, where both Odisha and Andhra Pradesh have long claimed administrative control over several villages.
“Andhra Pradesh officials have started their census-related activities in the border villages from today. Survey teams are visiting households and interacting with villagers in different pockets of Kotia,” said Pangi.
Sources said the enumeration process is being carried out in villages located deep inside hilly and forested areas of Kotia panchayat under Pottangi block. Residents reported that survey personnel travelled across difficult terrain despite the intense summer heat to reach interior settlements. The latest move has once again brought focus to the long-standing interstate boundary dispute involving the Kotia cluster of villages.
Administrative activities conducted by either Odisha or Andhra Pradesh in the region often become politically and administratively significant due to overlapping claims over the territory. Kotia has remained a sensitive border pocket for years, with both states frequently undertaking welfare programmes, development works, and official surveys in the area to assert and strengthen administrative presence among the tribal population.
Local observers believe the fresh census exercise by Andhra Pradesh may further intensify discussions regarding the unresolved boundary issue between the two neighbouring states.