Kotia tribals of Orissa belong to Andhra too!
These tribals have been enjoying benefits of both Orissa and Andhra Pradesh-sponsored schemes like ration cards since 1948. Around 3000 villagers have two voter identity cards, which means that they are allowed to cast their vote twice.
TRIBALS OF the Kotia group of 23 disputed villages of Pottangi tehsil in Koraput district of Orissa have the unique distinction of having a double citizenship – one of Vizianagaram district in Andhra Pradesh and the other of Koraput district in Orissa.
As a result, these tribals numbering around 4000, have been enjoying benefits of both Orissa and Andhra Pradesh-sponsored schemes like ration cards since 1948. Around 3000 villagers have two voter identity cards, which means that they are allowed to cast their vote twice to elect the Lok Sabha and Assembly representatives of both Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. A piquant situation indeed!
The dispute is pending with the Supreme Court since 1948 with both the Orissa and the Andhra Pradesh governments laying claim to all the 23 villages of the Kotia group. According to the records available in Saluru Mandal of Andhra Pradesh, the Girijan Society was formed in 1920 when the undivided Koraput district and Visakhapatnam were part of the combined Madras state. The society was formed to provide benefits to tribals belonging to Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh and Pottangi, Koraput, Jeypore tehsils of Orissa.
Pottangi, which is about 45km from Saluru, was made the headquarters of the Girijan Society and around 15 villages of Saluru and some from Orissa were transferred to the society. Later, when the society was dissolved due to a financial crunch, the villages, except those of the Kotia group on the eastern ghats of Orissa, reverted to their respective tehsils in Andhra Pradesh. When the Orissa state was formed in 1936, it laid claim to these villages and in 1948 the state government filed a case in the Supreme Court. The dispute was not solved even after formation of the Andhra Pradesh State in 1956 and continues to this day.
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