VIJAYAWADA: Development continues to elude Badvel Assembly constituency, which is going for by-elections on October 30. Among the Assembly constituencies in Kadapa district, Badvel lags behind in development, as the segment is bereft of any industries.
Agriculture remains the mainstay and given the frequent drought conditions that haunt the region, migrations to other places for livelihood have become the norm. Even after several decades, the region does not have rail connectivity. Nor does it have a government junior or degree college.
According to the electoral rolls published on January 1, 2021, the Assembly constituency, comprising seven mandals -- Badvel, Gopavarm, Kalasapadu, Kasinayana, Porumamilla, B Kodur and Atluru-- has 2,16,139 voters, including 1,07,340 women, and 22 transgenders. The segment’s population is estimated to be 3.5 lakh.
Though the population has increased over time, infrastructure has not shown a corresponding development and most mandals, including Badvel town, do not have decent drainage or road facilities. Moderate to heavy rains inundate most of the areas in the constituency, more so in the towns. Encroachments are rampant and assurances to remove them have been confined to papers.
Badvel, the headquarters of the constituency, does not have a single government college, though there are some private colleges, forcing the poor in the region dependent on the government colleges in Kadapa, Nellore, Ongole and other places, far from their own place.
The demand for the region to be made a revenue division, so they do not have to travel all the way to Rajampet, the revenue division headquarters, has been raised frequently over the past 40 years, but no efforts were made in that direction, till the recent cabinet decision.
During his recent visit to Badvel, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who was made aware of the problems and aspirations of the locals, laid the foundation for `450 crore worth development works and assured for industrialisation of Godpavaram.