Merger of 6 villages with civic body stayed

KARIMNAGAR: Ever since the Karimnagar municipality was upgraded into Corporation in 2005, the merger of adjoining 10 villages with the Corporation had become a cause of concern for the authorities concerned.People have been opposing the government’s merger move since then. The local bodies representatives have also approached the court in this regard.The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday issued stay orders on the merger of six villages into the corporation. “We have approached the High Court on this issue and the court has stayed the merger of six villages for now,” Gangula Kamalakar, Karimangar MLA and TDP leader has said.Kamalakar alleged that the merger is in violation of gazette rules which states that a village can be merged with the corporation if it lies within 3 kilometre radius from the district headquarters. “All the six villages lie beyond a distance of 3 kms,” the MLA said.The remaining four villages also do not fall within the 3 km radius, he said and added the court might issue orders soon on them. The MLA said with the merger of villages the residents would be burdened with heavy taxes. He recalled that even after Ramnagar and Rampur were merged with the municipality, they still do not have proper drainage system nor a road connectivity.