New panel to select Andhra capital

The Centre will constitute a five-member expert committee next week to select a capital for the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh.

The committee will comprise bureaucrats and experts, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh told reporters here on Friday after a meeting of Group of Ministers on bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.  

The committee will have six months to submit its report to the Centre, recommending a suitable place as capital, he said.

“The Central and the state governments are trying to complete all the works related to bifurcation before June 2, the day when Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will come into being,” he said.

Telangana will comprise 10 districts, including Hyderabad, while Andhra Pradesh will have 13 districts. Hyderabad will serve as joint capital for a period not exceeding 10 years.

Ramesh said the Centre has already constituted two committees to allocate the employees between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. While one committee is looking into allotment of 84,000 state-level employees, the second panel is working out modalities for allocation of Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service officers.