Thursday, May 22, 2014

WILL VIJAYAWADA BE THE CAPITAL ?

VIJAYAWADA IS THE CAPITAL 100%


VIJAYAWADA: Having impressed the world with his brand of development politics during his tenure as AP chief minister, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu will put up a repeat performance in the new state of Seemandhra, forecast political pundits. And among his main agendas would be creation of assets for the new state, including building a world-class capital on the lines of Hyderabad. 

"He is the first leader on the Indian political stage who invested heavily in promoting not only the state but also his personal image. He came to be known as the chief executive officer (CEO) of AP rather than chief minister during his first stint. With all his experience, Naidu will build an ultra-modern capital city for the new state," said senior architect K Pattabhiram. 

While there has been widespread speculation that the new capital might be located in the nearly 240-km Ongole-Eluru belt, sources said that Naidu is toying with the idea of zeroing in on the 30-km Guntur-Vijayawada stretch. In fact, a day after the TDP swept the polls, party leaders from the coastal region stepped up their campaign for this location. 

"Vijayawada will be the natural choice to host the capital as it is centrally located and convenient for people of both north coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions," argued Krishna district TDP president Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, who is a strong aspirant for a berth in the Naidu cabinet. 

Experts feel that Naidu would prefer Vijayawada-Guntur as the area is not only centrally-located but also well-developed. The new government need not spend much time and money on building the capital from scratch. 

Moreover, it is a Kamma heartland and there is strong pressure from the community leaders to locate the capital in the region. The area beyond Guntur and nearer to Ongole is dominated by Reddys and analysts feel Naidu may not prefer it for obvious reasons. 

"The financially strong Kamma community has been solidly backing the Telugu Desam Party since its inception and Naidu may not do anything that would go against them. By locating the capital in the Kamma heartland, he will keep the local landlords happy," said sociologist V Satyanarayana of Vijayawada. 

Rayapati Mohan Saikrishna, former mayor of Guntur, said Naidu may focus on completing the capital city in three years so as to concentrate on other schemes in the next two years before handing over the mantle to his son in the next elections. Setting up the capital in such a short time is possible only if it is located in a well-developed zone like Vijayawada. 

But if others are to be believed, the TDP chief might well opt for a new capital somewhere in the 70km Vijayawada-Eluru stretch. Incidentally, the expert committee appointed by the Centre has made it clear that it would only look into the technical aspects of setting up a new capital, leaving the final call to the government.
The government is mulling over building a new capital of residuary Andhra Pradesh in the forest land close to Mangalagiri, if indications from the government are to be believed.

A highly placed source in the government said a secret dossier from the Secretariat has been sent to the Ministry of Forest and Environment for declassification of forest land close or Mangalagiri, located between Vijayawada and Guntur.

Location of capital city for Andhra Pradesh has been a bone of contention ever since the issue of State bifurcation gained momentum. Leaders and prominent citizens from respective districts marketed their regions.

But, according to sources, the groundwork to find a capital city began at least two months before the A.P. Reorganisation Bill was actually tabled in the Parliament and now, the place has almost been finalised.

In total, Guntur district has 1,34,420 hectares of forest land, one among the highest in the State, and a major portion of it falls under degraded and rock outcrop categories. A small portion of about 2,250 hectares near Nizamapatnam has been earmarked as mangroves, said the District Forest Officer of Guntur K. Lohitasyudu.

The total extent of the forest land at Mangalagiri block under Tadepalli reserve is about 485 hectares, and it is believed that this is being targeted for declassification to host the new capital.

With the region’s close proximity to both the cities of Vijayawada and Guntur, this could be the chosen area, said Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) core committee member J.S.R.K. Prasad.

Earlier in 1960, about 214 acres of forest land in this region was declassified for setting up of T.B. sanatorium and over 180 acres was declassified to establish the 6 Andhra Pradesh Special Police battalion headquarters with firing range.

The national highway cuts through this forest land and Acharya Nagarjuna University. There is also a proposal to occupy the ANU campus as part of the capital project.

Agreeing that the region was in focus even since the new capital discussion began, former Rajya Sabha member from Guntur, Yalamanchili Sivaji, however said, “I don’t understand why the government needs land in hectares when the entire capital infrastructure can be covered in 50 to 60 acres”.

Keywords: Capital, Seemandhra, Mangalagiri, Guntur, Vijayawada, Krishna, River, Tadepalli, Andhra Pradesh

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