New capital of AP to be in Guntur district

Andhra Pradesh on Thursday finally named the two mandals in Guntur district that would form the core of the ultra modern state capital. 

The government plans to acquire 30,000 acres in the 17 villages of Tullur and Mangalagiri mandals of Guntur district and has not mentioned any plans for Vijayawada of Krishna district.

Addressing the media, state Agriculture Minister P Pulla Rao said the cabinet decided to involve the farmers from the two mandals as part of “land pooling” effort and each farmer would get Rs 25,000 per acre/annum spread over 10 years.

The farmers will also get 750-1,000 sq yards of land in exchange for the land they contribute. The tenant farmers and agriculture labour of the region will also get stipend and skill development training in lieu of loss of work.

The cabinet also decided to disband the existing Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali and Mangalagiri Development authority and in its place set up the Capital Regional Development Authority (CRDA). 

“Land pooling will be completed in 3 months and the CRDA will be developed into six sectors of 5000 acres each,” the minister said. 

Rao said in each of these sectors, infrastructure like secretariat, high court will be developed. “But the villages per se will not be disturbed and only government and private land around them will be taken up for capital development,” he added.

Asked what was the criteria for choice of the region, the minister said the land chosen was on the banks of the Krishna and it is also centrally located with all the 13 districts of the state. 

“In all we have to develop 60,000 acres of land, including government land, and the development cost is expected to be Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1 crore per acre in the CRDA,” Rao said.