Panel opposed to Vijayawada-Guntur stretch

• Adopt J&K, Karnataka and Maharashtra models and rotate Assembly sessions between main and second hubs
• Horsley Hills is unsuitable for capital

Hyderabad: AP can adopt Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Maharashtra models to set up a capital city. One Legislative session a year can be held in main capital and the second one in the second capital. The Legislature, the Secretariat, the High Court, and associated services can be at different locations, according to Sivaramkrishnan Committee report has said.

The report stressed that the capital need not be on grandiose scale in the mid-term. An ambitious plan will give rise to hike in prices of real estate. High market price will make land acquisition a difficult task.

A cautious approach which matches economic development, employment creation, sustainable investment and funding for infrastructure and urban development is critical, the committee said.

Capital zone investment package is estimated at Rs 27,097 crore at 2014 prices, Infrastructure Rs 10,519 crore, capital zone infrastructure Rs 1,536, City infrastructure upgradation Rs 5,861 crore, Infrastructure growth extension Rs 9,181 crore.

The panel particularly highlighted that all thorough discussion on the location of capital city both among political parties and people is necessary before deciding on the place, if any, mass movement for a separate state of Rayalaseema is to be avoided in future.

There are current proposals to develop three international airports in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati. This should provide good coverage of the three major regions of the state.

The economic feasibility of creating yet another air hub on India's east coast that would compete not only with Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad but also with Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, needs to be looked at critically. The only hill-station (Horsley Hills) is inappropriate for Capital zone even though it is not very far from Tirupati. Vijayawada and Guntur are among the less comfortable locations in the State from a temperature and humidity point of view, it felt.

Coastal areas of the State are highly vulnerable to cyclonic storms and associated storm surges as well as fluvial flooding, especially in settlements located in or along the course of major rivers. Earthquakes are relatively infrequent. But Andhra is exposed to both tremors and liquefaction, it added.

AP Cabinet meet on capital panel report tomorrow
Hyderabad: Taken aback by the observations made by the Sivaramakrishnan committee on location of the new capital, the State government has decided to discuss the report at length during the cabinet meeting scheduled to be held on September 1.

A source says that the AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been consulting various experts on the issue based on the highlights of the report and still was of the opinion that the capital should be centrally located.

If Naidu still prefers to have the capital city between Vijayawada and Guntur, the cabinet would endorse the decision. According to Ministers, the report was only advisory in nature and was not binding on the government. Some Ministers feel that if the government decides to locate its capital between Vijayawada and Guntur it will have to work out an acceptable strategy to see that the leaders of Rayalaseema do not oppose the move.

The government will have to come up with much needed impetus to the Rayalaseema. It may be recalled that the Deputy Chief Minister K E Krishnamurthy had openly opposed the move to have temporary capital in Vijayawada.

Interestingly, on Saturday, he said there was a possibility that the State government might not come up with any decision on the new capital city till it launches the project of developing smart cities in each district of the State.