Northern Visakhapatnam the best-suited for state executive capital: G.N. Rao

Retired IAS officer GN Rao, on Wednesday, stated that the panel headed by him recommended Visakhapatnam for setting up the executive capital of Andhra Pradesh. The retired top officer headed the expert committee that was set up to study the overall development of Andhra Pradesh and make a recommendation for the capital city.

GN Rao said the committee recommended that the northernmost part of Visakhapatnam, located far away from the coast would be an ideal choice for the executive capital to function instead of the core of the city.

Elaborating on the report at a press conference, Rao said his committee recommended adopting the same model as the neighbouring state of Karnataka, by dividing the state into development zones. As per the report, it was recommended that the State be divided into the following zones:

Zone I:

1. Srikakulam
2. Vizianagaram
3. Visakhapatnam
Headquarters: Visakhapatnam

Zone II:

1. East and West Godavari
2. Krishna
Headquarters: Eluru

Zone III:

1. Guntur
2. Nellore
3. Prakasam
Headquarters: Ongole

Zone IV:

1. Kurnool
2. Kadapa
3. Anantapur
4. Chittoor
Headquarters: Kadapa

GN Rao added that the executive powers of development must be with the Zonal Commissioners of the rank of Special Chief Secretary. He added that the three capitals were selected to meet the objective of decentralised planning, development, and execution.

Further, he stated that the committee toured all over Andhra Pradesh and studied development constraints in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, and Machilipatnam before concluding that Visakhapatnam was the best option for setting up executive capital since the city already had the required infrastructure.

Development of the vast tribal areas was another reason for picking Visakhapatnam, said GN Rao. Concluding the press meet, he asserted that the committee advised the government to look into the concerns of the farmers at Amaravati as well.