Live
- HC grants relief to actor Mohan Babu, stays police notices
- 'Grateful to all': Didi on INDIA bloc chief's role
- HMWSSB completes 50% of 90-day desilting special drive
- Lot to be done to get rid of manual scavenging: SC
- Cong-AAP 'alliance' will not make any difference
- Don’t rely too much on PAs, Gutha cautions lawmakers
- Facial Recognition Tech leads to arrest of impostor
- Voter 'deletion' issue : Kejriwal-led AAP delegation meets EC
- KTR is daydreaming, flays Sridhar Babu
- Red roses given to BJP counterparts
AP firm on capital in Vijayawada
Notwithstanding Sivaramakrishnan committee recommendations not to set up capital in Vijayawada-Guntur region, the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet is learnt to have decided to go ahead with its earlier plan to locate the capital in the same area in a five-hour long brainstorming session.
- Naidu likely to make formal announcement today
- Sivaramakrishnan panel report gets a burial
Hyderabad: Notwithstanding Sivaramakrishnan committee recommendations not to set up capital in Vijayawada-Guntur region, the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet is learnt to have decided to go ahead with its earlier plan to locate the capital in the same area in a five-hour long brainstorming session. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is likely to make an announcement to this effect in Assembly on Tuesday.
According to sources, Naidu told the ministers not to express any view on the issue of location of the capital city till he made a formal announcement in the Assembly.
The Cabinet has also decided to appoint a sub-committee which will negotiate with the farmers in the area to acquire the required land. The committee consists of Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, Labour Minister K Atchan Naidu, Minister for MAUD P Narayana, Agriculture Minister P Pulla Rao and Minister for Irrigation Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao. It is also learnt that some ministers favouring Vijayawada-Guntur region put the entire responsibility on the Chief Minister and asked him to make an announcement on the capital to end the suspense and move towards development. They said State Secretariat, Assembly, High Court and all important offices should be located in one place for the convenience of the administration and not as suggested by the Sivaramakrishnan committee.
Ministers from Rayalaseema supporting Sivaramakrishnan recommendations felt that the government should develop mega cities and smart cities before announcing the location for the new capital.
Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said Sivaramakrishnan Committee recommendations were confusing and lacked clarity. He also pointed out that the panel suggestion for decentralisation was not feasible. The heads of departments, secretaries and ministers needed to stay at one place for making important decisions, he said.
The Cabinet members also suggested that the sub-committee should also delve into land acquisition, location of offices and departments.
Sources said Yanamala Ramakrishnudu and P Narayana would soon have discussions with the MLAs of Krishna and Guntur districts on the land acquisition.
Among the other decisions taken by the Cabinet were to increase the upper age limit for District Selection Committee to 40 years and to develop 4,000 MW capacity super thermal power plant at Visakhapatnam.
