andhra-pradesh

Updated: Dec 20, 2019 20:59 IST

An expert committee has recommended making Visakhapatnam the main capital city of Andhra Pradesh instead of Amaravati, the present capital.

The six-member panel, appointed by Jagan Mohan Reddy government and headed by retired IAS officer G Nageshwar Rao, submitted its report on Friday recommending housing of the state administration including the secretariat, department offices and the chief minister’s office in Visakhapatnam, besides establishing a bench of the state high court and assembly complex in the coastal city for holding the budget session.

As per the report, the present capital region of Amaravati will house Raj Bhavan and the assembly complex to host monsoon and winter sessions, besides the Amaravati bench of the high court, that would cater to the needs of south coastal Andhra people.

The committee has also suggested relocating the Raj Bhavan and the assembly building to an area between Mangalagiri and Nagarjuna University in Guntur to safeguard against annual flooding.

The report proposed the state high court’s main bench is set up at Kurnool in Rayalaseema, as per the Sri Bagh agreement signed between leaders of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema in November 1937.

Rao said the proposals were based on a decentralised administrative model for the best use of the available resources for balanced regional growth while meeting the environmental needs.

The committee also recommended dividing Andhra Pradesh into four zones, each with a Commissionarate on the lines of neighbouring Karnataka. Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam could be in the north zone, East and West Godavari along with Krishna districts could form the central coastal region, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore could be in the south-coastal zone and the four south-western districts could form the Rayalaseema zone.

The report recommends developing urban settlements between Ichchapuram and Nellore, connecting the Krishna Godavari basin with a canal system and comprehensive development of Rayalaseema region with emphasis on adequate water supply.

Amaravati farmers, who have been agitating against the three-capital proposal, accused the committee of submitting a “tailor-made report” and blocked the road leading to the secretariat in protest.

“We expressed our views to the committee members when they toured Amaravati, but they completely ignored our stand and gave a tailor-made report to the government,” said K Anil Kumar, a farmer who gave his land for development of the capital region.