Capital city no longer an issue in Andhra Pradesh
Ten years after its bifurcation, Andhra Pradesh still does not have a capital. But what’s more surprising is that the lack of capital has even ceased to be an issue in this election.
Andhra Pradesh’s executive capital will start functioning from Visakhapatnam from Dasara with the shifting of Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s official residence.
The Chief Minister conveyed to the ministers during the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
To start with, the office of the Chief Minister will begin operations from Visakhapatnam from Vijaya Dasmi.
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A committee of officials will be appointed to identify buildings for shifting various government departments.
Another committee will be constituted to shift the offices from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam.
Addressing the Global Investors Summit in Visakhapatnam in March, Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced that Visakhapatnam will be the executive capital of the state in the days to come.
He had told the summit that he would also be shortly moving over to Visakhapatnam.
At the curtain raiser event in Delhi on January 31, the Chief Minister had announced that Visakhapatnam will soon be the state capital.
It was on December 17, 2019 that Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced in the state Assembly that three state capitals will be developed reversing the decision of the previous TDP government to develop Amaravati as the state
capital.
The YSRCP government mooted Visakhapatnam as administrative capital, Kurnool as judicial capital and Amaravati as legislative capital.
However, the protest by farmers of Amaravati over shifting of the capital and the High Court order directing the government to develop Amaravati as the state capital had delayed the process.
On March 3, 2022, Andhra Pradesh High Court had directed the state government to develop Amaravati as the state capital in six months. A bench of three judges had pronounced the judgment on 75 petitions filed by Amaravati farmers and others challenging the government’s move on three capitals.
However, the state government filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. In November last year, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court order saying the court cannot act like a town planner or an engineer.
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