Naidu asks officials to shift to VJA

• State administration set to move
• Officials on look-out for suitable buildings

Vijayawada: The city is going to be the temporary capital of Andhra Pradesh. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is understood to have directed the senior officers and the Cabinet colleagues to find suitable places in Vijayawada to shift the administration.

The Chief Minister, who met the advisory committee on the capital, had given enough indications that he preferred Vijayawada as the next capital. As the Central government's committee headed by Sivaramakrishnan is yet to submit its report, the Chief Minister said that the city would be the temporary capital.

The officials were directed to shift their offices to Vijayawada and its surrounding places. The Chief Minister had also reportedly advised the senior officials to have some key departments of the Secretariat probably in the "Medha" towers located right in front of the Gannavaram airport. The Chief Minister is also understood to have directed the heads of various departments to find suitable places in and around Vijayawada to shift their important files and start working from there. He had also asked the officials to find suitable places for their housing and be prepared to shift their families for education from the next academic year.

The Krishna district administration had already prepared the State Guest House to be made the camp office of the Chief Minister and in all probability the Chief Minister would occupy it after the Independence Day celebrations at Kurnool. The Chief Minister had already posted an additional DG cadre officer, A B Venkateswara Rao, as the Commissioner of Police for the city, giving it the capital status. His cabinet colleague, Devineni Umamaheswara Rao had already shifted his Irrigation office to the city, while the Ministers Kollu Ravindra and Dr Kamineni Srinivasa Rao have asked the officials of their departments to find suitable locations.

According to sources, the Chief Minister is planning to ask the Chief Secretary and the DGP too to find suitable places for their camp offices. The heads of various departments too were asked to find suitable places to have their camp offices in the city.

The officials here have kept the R & B guest house, the campus of the veterinary hospital, RTA office, the Rajiv Vidya Mission office located by the side of RTA office, the Panchayat Raj office, the camp offices of the Krishna Zilla Parishad chairperson and the joint collector and the Zilla Parishad guest house, all located along the M G Road, are likely to be allocated to the respective departments to have their camp offices here. The medical and health department is likely to come up either on the premises of the new Government Hospital or the old premises near railway station. The officials have also prepared the list of buildings available in the city including the office of the ACP, Krishna district SP's camp office, the camp offices of the UDA vice-chairperson, the sub-collector and the police guest house, all located near the State Guest House. The RTC is preparing a blue print to shift its headquarters here locating it at Vidyadharapuram. A team of senior officials have already visited the place a month ago and have decided to move here. However, the officials are now planning to occupy the new buildings at the Pundit Nehru Bus Station Complex on a temporary basis.