AP capital at Bapulapadu?

• Sivaramakrishnan panel discusses details with Naidu
• Panel for setting up capital somewhere in the Vijayawada-Guntur region
• It is against locating the capital in city areas
• Panel to submit report by August 2
• Naidu wants capital in a centrally located place
• He favours Malaysian concept of decentralised Admn mechanism
• Panel also suggests scattering of govt institutions across the State

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government is likely to follow the Malaysian concept of decentralised administrative mechanisms instead of constructing a big capital city where all government offices will be located.

Even the Sivaramakrishnan Committee, which had a three-hour meeting with AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, is learnt to have agreed to the suggestion. If the deliberations at the meeting were any indication, the administrative capital would be set up somewhere in the region consisting of Vijayawada and Guntur in Krishna district. The committee also suggested that the new capital should be at a place nearer to already developed cities but not within the cities like Vijayawada or Guntur. Briefing newsmen after the meeting, the committee headed by Sivaramakrishnan said that they had asked the government to study the models of "Capitals such as Bhubhaneswar (Odisha), Gandhinagar (Gujarat), Islamabad (Pakistan), Putrajaya (Administrative territory of Malaysia) and Brasilia (Brazil) which are ideal ones for AP".

He explained that these capitals are situated nearer to commercial centres in their states/countries and not located in those cities. For example, Bhubhaneswar is adjacent to Cuttack, Gandhinagar is nearer to Ahmedabad and Islamabad is closer to Rawalpindi.

If these models are followed it would lessen the chances of the new capital getting choked at the seams and will help in not only developing a well-planned capital city but will also ensure all-round development of the state and will not give scope for regional imbalance.

Sivaramakrishnan said the committee would submit its report to the Union government by August 2. He said Naidu wanted to locate the capital at a centrally located place in the State.

When asked by media if the capital would be at Vijayawada-Guntur he replied that it was one of the suggestions given to the panel. But, he said, finding vast stretches of land was a major constraint in these towns. Moreover, if the new capital was located on this stretch, fertile land would be lost. Hence, the panel was against locating the capital in that stretch. Instead it suggested the government to locate the capital at a place nearer to this stretch where degraded forest land is available. This means the new capital could be located somewhere near Bapulapadu near Vijayawada as was reported in these columns soon after the TDP government came to power.

He said keeping in view the high land prices in AP the committee had suggested that Naidu should not locate all administrative offices of the government at one place.

"Naidu is also equally concerned about this. He wants decentralised development across the State," he said.

When asked about the demand of Rayalaseema people that the capital be located in their region, Sivaramakrishnan replied, "Rayalaseema people want revision of water management policy to their region". He further said that the establishment of the new upcoming central and state institutions in different locations in the state would pave way for the decentralisation of the development.

As of now 192 AP government offices are located in Hyderabad. Finding vast stretches of land to locate these offices and organisations at one place is difficult. Hence, the panel has advised AP government to scatter them across the State for decentralised development, he added. The committee feels that at least 120 acres land is needed to locate main administrative blocks such as Assembly building, quarters for MLAs and CMO at one place.