Take up Kotia issue with Centre before border row spills over to other districts: President Bhrugu Baxipatra

BHUBANESWAR: The South Odisha Development Council, a social organisation comprising members of seven southern districts, on Sunday urged the state government to take up the decades-old Kotia border dispute issue with the Centre before its too late.
President Bhrugu Baxipatra was speaking at the general body meeting of the council here on Sunday.
“The boundaries of Odisha were demarcated by the British in 1936, whereas Andhra Pradesh was created in 1956. Even the map shows that Kotia belongs to Odisha,” he claimed.
Despite this, Baxipatra said, Andhra Pradesh is strategically trying to claim the border villages by offering ration cards, healthcare, education and other facilities to the people settled there year after year.
“Our state has woken up from its slumber only now. We do not know what the Odisha chief minister and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart discussed during their recent meeting. We need to resolve the Kotia issue at the earliest by discussing it with the Centre in detail,” he suggested.
He further said the border dispute is not only confined to Kotia, but is also gradually erupting at Gangabada in Gajapati district, some villages of Patrapur block in Ganjam district and other border villages in southern Odisha. “Andhra Pradesh is eyeing around 100 bordering villages in southern Odisha. There will be more problems in future, so the government better prepare an action plan to tackle this issue,” he advised.
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