Expert committee recommends setting up three capitals in Andhra Pradesh

The expert committee, appointed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, on Friday, submitted its recommendations on the proposed decentralised development in the state by having three capitals. The committee suggested that three different capitals for the state to put the available resources to the best use with regard to the environment and balanced regional growth.

The committee is headed by G Nageswara Rao who is a retired IAS officer, Mahavir, Professor of Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi; Anjali Mohan, Urban and Regional Planner; Shivananda Swamy, CEPT, Ahmedabad; K T Ravindran, retired professor, Delhi School of Architecture, and K V Arunachalam, retired Chief Urban Planner, Chennai, are the other members.

Earlier this week, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy proposed decentralised development of Andhra Pradesh by setting up capitals at Amaravati, Visakhapatnam, and Kurnool.

While Amaravati will be the legislative capital, Kurnool and Vizag will be set up as the judicial capital and executive capital respectively, as per the proposal. Elaborating on the plans for Vizag, the CM said the Government may shift important offices, including the Secretariat and various Heads of Departments.

The budget and winter sessions of the Assembly will be held at Amaravati and Visakhapatnam and the Raj Bhavan and the Assembly will be located between Mangalagiri and Nagarjuna University, which is not prone to floods in regards to environmental issues.

On the contrary side, protests have been surfacing in Amaravati by the farmers, who have been opposing the proposed decentralisation as it may have an effect of their future. The protesters have taken to streets and even organised the ‘Vanta Varpu’ programme, thereby blocking the roads. The opposition TDP too has been vehemently opposing the proposal of setting up three different capitals for Andhra Pradesh.