Summary:
Visakhapatnam: The setting up of the Srikakulam Urban Development Authority on February 12 has raised questions as it why was the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority upgraded to Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority ( VMRDA ) at all.The erstwhile Vuda was upgraded as VMRDA in September 2018 after years of deliberations and brainstorming meetings. Interestingly, Chittoor district got two new UDAs, including the Palamaneru-Kuppam-Madanapalli Urban Development Authority (PKM-UDA) with headquarters at Madanapalli and Chittoor Urban Development Authority (CHUDA) with headquarters at Chittoor. This takes the number of UDAs in Chittoor district to three, including the existing Tirupati Urban Development Authority. Moreover, it was learnt that the state government did not seek any opinion of the VMRDA before ceding the areas to Suda. But just six months after the new alignment, the state government excluded 417 villages in 11 mandals and three civic bodies of Srikakulam district from the VMRDA to float the Suda..