Kotia, Koraput
Kotia | |
|---|---|
  Kotia Location in Odisha  Kotia Kotia (India) | |
| Coordinates: 18°51′55″N 83°06′16″E / 18.86528°N 83.10444°E | |
| Country |  India |
| State |  Odisha |
| District | Koraput |
| Government | |
| • Type | Gram Panchayat |
| • Member of Legislative Assembly | Pitam Padhi |
| Elevation | 1,024 m (3,360 ft) |
| Population (2011)[1] | |
| • Total | 797 |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Odia |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| Telephone code | 06854 |
| Vehicle registration | OD-10 |
The village of Kotia is the headquarters of a Gram Panchayat of the same name in the Pottangi block of Koraput District in Odisha, India. Along with other villages of the Gram Panchayat, it is the subject of a long pending border dispute between the states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, which claims it as a part of Salur mandal in Parvathipuram Manyam district of the State.
History
The area under dispute forms a part of the Pottangi Tahsil under the Koraput District of the State of Odisha. The Gram Panchayat headquarters are at Kotia and it comprises of 28 villages, 21 of which form the subject of the dispute. Both the Koraput and Parvathipuram Districts of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh formed a part of the undivided Vizagapatam District of Madras before 1936. The district had two divisions – a Settled portion along the coast and an Agency area that covered the rest of it. The latter was mostly un-surveyed and largely formed a part of the Zamindari estate of Jeypore, now a part of Odisha. The usual laws did not apply to this tract and the Collector and District Magistrate administered the same under the Ganjam and Vizagapatam Act of 1839 in a personal capacity. Importantly, as the area was a private Zamindari, it was never surveyed in detail or its borders established. While many Talukas of the district fell within one or the other category, there were some – like Salur - that had both these divisions within their boundaries. Before 1920, the disputed area was a part of the Salur Agency within the Taluka of the same name. In that year, the British Parliament through an Act carved out a new Agency district and, inter alia, abolished the Salur Agency. All of its 123 villages were transferred to the neighbouring Agency of the Pottangi Taluka (now a part of Odisha). This new district was abolished barely three years later by the Government but the reorganisation of the Talukas was not interfered with. In 1927, the Government of Madras purportedly transferred 115 of these villages back to Salur and re-created a Salur Agency. After subsequent corrections in 1928, it was found that only 7 villages out of the 21 disputed villages formed a part of this re-transfer while the other 14 continued as a part of the Pottangi Agency and Taluka.
- ^ "Population by religion community – 2011". Census of India, 2011. The Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived from the original on 25 August 2015.