After lobbying hard for the Vijayawada-Guntur stretch as the first choice for the new capital before the Union government-appointed Sivaramakrishnan Committee, the Andhra Pradesh government appears to be in confusion and wants to tread cautiously.
Municipal Administration Minister P. Narayana, who in his capacity as head of the State committee on the capital, submitted a representation to the committee in New Delhi pitching for the Vijayawada-Guntur belt last week, now says no final decision has been taken and that the government supported the Central committee’s view that it should be centrally located.
Only private landApparently, the government seems to be taking a re-look at its own proposal after the Sivaramakrishnan Committee made its presentation to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on July 26 in Hyderabad raising some vital issues relating to the State’s choice for capital.
A former bureaucrat, K.C. Sivaramakrishnan, reportedly highlighted limited availability of government land in the stretch and wondered how the government would pool thousands of crores for buying private land given the State’s decision to have a “world class capital” spread over 20,000 to 25,000 acres. His estimate was that the government might require a whopping Rs. 40,000 crore, going by the provisions of the new Land Acquisition Act as it needs to pay one-and-a-half times of the land cost which at present was about Rs. 50 lakh per acre.
Dispersed developmentAt a media conference that day, Mr. Sivaramakrishnan pressed on the same point without of course giving these figures. He said the committee was not in favour of acquiring vast stretches of fertile land suitable for various crops as it affected food security in the long run. It was also against building a “super city” for a capital as it was an outdated concept.
The Legislative Assembly, High Court, Secretariat and all departmental offices and all the 190-odd departmental offices need not be at one place like it is in Hyderabad now. Instead, the government should think of a dispersed model of development and see that about 13 to 14 locations all over the State develop simultaneously with a central location having good connectivity to all districts as a functional capital.
Taking a cue, Mr. Narayana stopped mentioning about the Vijayawada-Guntur stretch and started talking about centrality of the capital and of locating the 11 central institutions allotted to the State in each of the 13 districts. When asked about the government’s response to the committee, another Minister said the government was simply unable to come to a decision “as too many complex issues” were involved. The government was now planning to hold a public debate and even consult other political parties to see that its decision did not become controversial.
