Jagan Mohan Reddy for referendum on capital

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is set to decide on the state capital by referendum. Mr Reddy feels there is no need for all government departments and offices to be located at one place.

The idea is similar to the core argument of the Sivaramakrishnan committee report, which was appointed by the Centre to suggest a place to build a capital for AP. The previous Telugu Desam government ignored the committee's report and decided to build the capital between Vijayawada and Guntur on the Krishna banks.

Mr Reddy asked AP Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) commissioner P. Lakshmi Narasimham to submit a report on the lands pooled at Amaravati. In particular, Mr Reddy wants the CRDA to report on whether farmers had given their lands voluntarily or whether the government had taken forcefully from them. He wanted the report to include issues like the extent of land allotted by the previous government to various private and public companies, besides public institutions.

A senior bureaucrat close to the chief minister told this newspaper that after the CRDA commissioner submits a report, Mr Reddy may decide on going to the people with a referendum on the issue.

The Sivaramakrishnan committee did not recommend a specific place to build the AP capital, but said that a capital built between Vijayawada and Guntur would be a wrong decision because it would cause long-term economic and environmental problems.

Mr Reddy agrees largely with the panel recommendation that the state be deemed as four zones – northern Andhra, central Andhra, coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema – and the government should decentralise and distribute administration across the state.

The Sivaramakrishnan Committee recommended establishing a high court in Visakhapatnam, a high court bench at Kurnool or Anantapur, but the CM does not concur to the point, and instead wants to set up the high court in Rayalaseema.