Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool will be the “three capitals” of the Andhra Pradesh state
HYDERABAD| On Monday Andhra Pradesh government introduced a bill in the assembly for the state to have “three-capitals”. The Bill states, ‘Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020’, the state would now have three Capitals: Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool.
The bill clears all the three capitals functioning, Amaravati will be the legislative capital and host the ‘seat of legislature’. Visakhapatnam will hold Raj Bhavan, secretariat and offices of the heads of government departments making it the executive capital and Kurnool will be the judicial capital and will hold the high court.
Finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy said, “Why do states have district administration and local bodies? To ensure equitable development. We want the same for Andhra Pradesh. The three regions in the state have different socio-economic cultural and developmental dimensions, and only a decentralised administration will ensure equal growth”.
The three regions will be construed by the notifications issued under the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Metropolitan Region and Urban Development Authorities Act, 2016.
Amid the massive statewide protests against the three capital, the action was taken. Farmers from 29 villages in Amaravati, who gave their lands in pooling to the previous government for a capital in Amaravati, have been protesting against the YSRCP government for the decentralised capital proposal.
Opposition slammed Jaganmohan Reddy’s government for the three capital in the state. Former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam, also actively participating in the protests all over.
Several TDP leaders were detained by the Police ahead of the ‘Chalo Assembly’ call given by Naidu in an attempt to gherao the Assembly. Several farmers were also expected to join the protests. However, the state government led by Jaganmohan Reddy’s deployed heavy security in and around the Assembly to avoid any sort of inconvenience.
YSRCP leaders have opposed Naidu’s proposal saying the former chief minister did not take the Sivaramakrishnan committee report into consideration while planning the three capitals. The expert panel, appointed by Home Ministry, opposed the idea of a capital coming up in the area between Vijayawada-Guntur as it may pose a threat to the economy of the state, apart from disturbing the environment.
The ruling party also tabled another bill on Monday to repeal the existing Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Act, 2014, which was to overlook the setting up of Amaravati as the Capital.
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