The committee, appointed by the previous UPA government to locate a new capital city for residuary Andhra Pradesh (AP), is against building a green capital city as it will take a long time. Instead, the committee reportedly favours a capital city with multi-storeyed buildings similar to Singapore.
The committee, at the same time, made it clear that it is the prerogative of the Andhra Pradesh state government to decide the location of its new capital city.
Hyderabad will be the joint capital of Telangana and residuary Andhra for the next ten years. The newly-formed Telangana will retain Hyderabad as its capital city after ten years, while the residuary AP has to build its new capital.
The panel, headed by K.C. Sivaramakrishnan, has suggested that a city with multi-storeyed buildings can reduce land acquisition problems for the government. The panel reportedly shared its views with the state chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday, 14 June. The committee members made it clear to the CM that people are very passionate about a new capital city that can be developed faster.
After meeting Naidu, they addressed the media and said that the CM wanted to build separate business and infrastructure hubs in the new state apart from developing a medium-sized capital city, reported the Times of India.
In AP, there are two regions - Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra, which have their own flavours. The districts in the two regions should be developed according to conditions that suit them, whether it is IT or any other industrial hub, the committee members said.
They ruled out the development of a capital city from scratch. They hinted that they are in favour of developing a "political-cum-administrative capital" and transforming towns and cities into smart ones with better connectivity for balanced development in Seemandhra, reported Deccan Chronicle.
This way, the acquisition of huge chunks of agricultural land and catchment areas of water bodies in Seemandhra can be avoided. The panel memebers stated that the development of cities cannot take place without acquiring agricultural land, but insisted that care should be taken to minimise land acquisition.
The committee has studied Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada, Guntur and other places. After visiting south Andhra and Rayalaseema, the committee will submit a list of multiple locations that will be suitable to develop a "political-cum-administrative city." The committee will submit its report to the centre before 31 August.
According to the panel members, the central government will provide finanical assistance to AP to build its capital city as per AP Reorganisation Act 2014.
When asked about the union government's role in selection of location for AP's capital, panel chairman Sivaramakrishnan said that the state government might take a decision on the location of its new capital city after consulting with the centre.
