Pottangi: Andhra Pradesh has refused to abide by any restrictions imposed by the apex court on Kotia panchayat under Pottangi block in Koraput district and is repeatedly staking its claim on the area much to the chagrin of the state government.
In its latest offensive, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Peedika Rajanna Dora visited Kotia panchayat and attended various programmes organised by the government of the neighbouring state. Dora’s visit started Sunday but it was kept under the wraps from the block administration and the mediapersons and was out in the public domain Tuesday.
Dora entered Tadibalsa village under Kotia panchayat and moved from door to door distributing a book describing the welfare and developmental works being undertaken for the people of bordering areas by the Andhra government. Dora was welcomed by Tadibalsa villagers to the playing of traditional musical instruments, song and dance.
During the visit, he was accompanied by the leaders and party workers of ruling YSR Congress and Andhra police. He said that all those benefits are now available to the villagers have become possible only due to the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister.
He said many more benefits await the villagers and the Andhra government is taking steps to implement them. He also assured to resolve the mobile phone network problem and provide forest land pattas to all the families. Those accompanying Dora said this is not a government programme but is a programme of the ruling party.
Pottangi MLA Pritam Padhi ruled out any impact of Dora’s visit on Kotia residents. He expressed displeasure over the AP government’s move and questioned that how far it is correct for Dora, who is the Deputy Chief Minister, to get involved in such irresponsible work. He said Dora should know the protocol while the Odisha government is doing its best to bring in all-round development in Kotia panchayat.
Visiting Kotia secretly and luring people towards AP government is shameful. He should inform Odisha government whenever he visits Kotia. Meanwhile, Andhra police personnel led by SI Rohini Pathy was found providing security to Dora during his visit to Tadibalsa village
Earlier, residents of Kotia had snubbed Dora during his visit to the area. It was learnt that Andhra supported independent candidate Tikai Gemel had won the zilla parishad election from the seat following which a team led by Dora had visited the area to celebrate the victory.
However, the villagers opposed the team from the neighbouring state vehemently by saying that Andhra is only concerned in fulfilling their own designs by giving false assurances to the people in the area.
When contacted, BDO Soumya Sarthak Mishra advised the mediapersons to contact the district Collector for feedback on this issue. Attempts to contact the Collector Abdaal M Akhtar over phone ended in vain as he did not respond to the call.