HYDERABAD: There is a capital crisis of sorts for Seemandhra with the Government of India (GOI) not inclined to identify a new capital for the new state. The committee that is presently touring the Seemandhra region is likely to take a technical view and is expected to present a report that merely lists the advantages and disadvantages of various locations. It will also list out the parameters on which a new capital should be chosen.
This would include its proximity to an existing airhead and railhead. Availability of land and water will also be key factors. An earlier view was that the committee would finalize its choice of capital by end of May 2014 before the state is actually bifurcated. But that idea has now been given up.
The touring committee after completing its visit of Visakhapatnam and Rajahmundry is now proceeding to Vijayawada. Its last port of call will be Hyderabad. The committee is headed by retired Union secretary for urban development K C Sivaramakrishnan, but due to ill health he has not made it to Seemandhra this time. In his absence Rathin Roy is heading the team. Roy is director of the Delhi-based National Institute Of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) who incidentally has a Telugu mother hailing from Seemandhra.
The committee's thinking is that the new government of Seemandhra has to take a call on the location of the new capital. At least one of the two possible chief ministers of Seemandhra, Jaganmohan Reddy, is of the view that much will depend on how much moolah the central government will provide for its development. This has not been specified in the Act that has been passed by Parliament to divide Andhra Pradesh.
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