'Report of committee experts to decide capital of AP'

Botsa Satyanarayana, the state municipal administration minister who has created ripples by saying Amaravati is prone to flooding and that the Y S Jaganmohan Reddy government will look for other feasible alternatives, fired another salvo on Thursday.

The minister while addressing a press conference said that the government will take a final call on the state capital only after the expert committee set up by the chief minister submits its report.

“The expert committee will advise the government where to build the capital, which place is suitable, where development is possible and where all the people of the state consider the place as their own," Botsa said.

He said that the chief minister then will take a final call about the state capital.

“The present government works in total transparency. Any decision on state capital and its location will be taken by the chief minister in full public view,” he said.

The expert committee will soon visit the Amaravati capital region as part of its state wide tour scouting for a suitable place for setting up state capital.

The government on September 13, had handed over the responsibility to the panel formed with urban planning experts from Delhi, Ahmadabad, Bangalore and Chennai.

The panel consists Prof. Mahaveer, Professor of Planning, Dean (Academic), School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, Dr Anjali Mohan, a Bangalore-based urban and regional planner, Prof Shivananda Swamy from CEPT, Ahmadabad, Prof KT Ravindran, SPA (Retd), Delhi School of Architecture, Delhi and Dr. KV Arunachalam, retired chief urban planner, Chennai. Retired IAS officer GN Rao (Andhra Pradesh) would act as convener of the committee.

The committee has been authorized to co-opt an expert on environmental issues and flood management.

The committee was to suggest on the capital and overall state development. The committee has no representation from the state.

Municipal administration and urban development department secretary J Syamala Rao said that the committee will submit its report within six weeks. The terms of reference (ToR) for the committee are being formulated.

However, the minister said that the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) office built near Tullur in Guntur district will be inaugurated soon as per plan.