Amaravati, Following into the footsteps of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy has decided to reorganize the districts for better governance.

The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government plans to increase the number of districts from existing 13 to 25 or more.

Telangana, which was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, undertook reorganization of districts in 2016, increasing the numbers from 10 to 33.

Andhra Pradesh cabinet on Wednesday decided to set up a six-member committee to study and finalise delimitation of districts to pave way for better governance. The process for delimitation of districts will be on the lines of parliamentary constituencies.

State Information Minister Perni Nani told media persons after the cabinet meet that the committee will study the issue and submit its report at the earliest on delimiting the existing 13 districts to 25 or more as the case may be, with minimal expenditure.

Jaganmohan Reddy during the election campaign had promised smaller districts for better administration.

The committee will be headed by Chief Secretary with CCLA Commissioner, Secretary of General Administration, Secretary of Planning Department, a representative from CMO, and Principal Secretary of Finance as Convener. The committee will study and submit its report at the earliest.

The cabinet also decided to appoint 9,712 personnel in the medical and health department. They will include doctors, nurses, technicians and other posts. Of the total 9,712 posts, 5701 are newly formed while 4,011 are the vacancies.

The state will also recruit 420 teaching and 178 non-teaching staff on RGUKT (IIIT) institutions in Srikakulam and Ongole. Besides these, with an estimated budget of Rs 9 crore, a veterinary polytechnic college will come up at Kommamarri of Kurnool district, with an intake of 30 students from 2020-21 academic year. A similar facility will be set up at Anantapur later.

The state government gave consent to withdraw the cases filed against the teachers and government employees during the agitation for opposing Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and the cases filed against those for attacking old police station in Guntur will also be withdrawn.