Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday deferred the much-awaited announcement pertaining to the location for the state's new capital city, saying Tuesday -- an Ashtami -- was inauspicious for announcements of this magnitude.
On Monday, the state cabinet had decided to build its new capital city near Vijayawada, the second largest city in the state after Visakhapatnam. The announcement was to be made on Tuesday, however now, Naidu is likely to make a statement in this regard on Thursday, 4 September.
Once Naidu makes the statement in the Assembly, the state government will intimate the Centre about its decision and prerogatives on building the capital city.
With this, it is clear that the state government has brushed aside the suggestion made by Sivaramakrishnan committee to decentralise the new capital city by spreading its functional departments to other cities in the state.
The committee had submitted its report to the Union government on the proposed capital city of Andhra Pradesh last month. The committee is against building the state's new capital at one place. It especially did not favour the idea of building one mega-capital city between Vijayawada and Guntur since it would consume numerous acres of fertile land.
On the suggestion of the committee to decentralise the state administration, the cabinet ministers said it would not be possible to spread various departments and directorates in different districts of the state. For a smooth administration, the secretaries and heads of departments should work together at one place, which is the state capital, the ministers added.
The cabinet arrived at the decision of building the capital city between Vijayawada and Guntur after a five-hour discussion. If the plan materialises, state capital would become a mega city linking Vijayawada and Guntur in the coastal Andhra Pradesh region.
Besides building the capital city, the cabinet also decided to develop three big cities-Vijayawada, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam into "mega cities" and a few others into "smart cities."
The cabinet took a call and constituted a ministerial sub-committee to pool up land required for the new capital city. The sub-committee's main task is to negotiate and convince the farmers to give away their lands to build the capital city.
Reports have indicated that the price of land between Vijaywada and Guntur has soared manifold after the government hinted at the possible location to build the new capital. In this scenario, it is said that several farmers are reluctant to give their lands to the government.
