E-Paper
Panel recommends Vizag as Andhra Pradesh’s capital
Soon after the report came out, farmers blocked the road leading to the secretariat by parking bulldozers and excavators, raising slogans against the government.
A six-member expert committee formed by the Andhra Pradesh government has recommended that Visakhapatnam be the main capital of the state instead of Amaravati.
In its report submitted to chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, the committee headed by retired IAS officer G Nageshwar Rao said Visakhapatnam would be the seat of state administration – secretariat, department offices and the chief minister’s office, besides a separate high court bench and the assembly complex for the budget session.
Amaravati will have Raj Bhavan and the assembly complex that will host the monsoon and winter sessions, besides the Amaravati bench of the state high court.
The committee also recommended that the Raj Bhavan and the assembly building be relocated between Mangalagiri and Nagarjuna University area in Guntur which is not flood-prone.
“We suggested that by adopting a decentralised administrative model, the government could put the available resources to the best use,” Rao said.
Meanwhile, Amaravati farmers who have been protesting against the three-capital model, were disappointed in the report. “We expressed our views to the committee members when they toured Amaravati. Yet they gave a report in tune with the chief minister’s ideas,” said K Anil Kumar, one of the farmers who had given away their lands for the capital.
Soon after the report came out, farmers blocked the road leading to the secretariat by parking bulldozers and excavators, raising slogans against the government.
