VIJAYAWADA: The much-awaited GN Rao Committee, constituted by the State government to suggest measures for equitable development of the State, has recommended that Capital functions be distributed among three cities - Visakhapatnam, Amaravati and Kurnool - keeping in mind the requirements of the State and also advised formation of four regional commissionerates for the purposes of decentralised administration.
Its recommendations on the distribution of Capital functions are similar to the ideas mooted by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on the last day of the Assembly session recently.
The panel, which submitted its report to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday, recommended that the Secretariat and the Chief Minister’s camp-office be moved to the Visakhapatnam metropolitan region.
A high court bench besides a legislative building for summer should also be established in the region, GN Rao, the retired IAS officer, said, addressing a press conference at the Secretariat.
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Stressing that the committee has not recommended the location for a Capital city, but only Capital functions conscious of the overall development of the backward North Coastal region, some of the upland areas in central coastal region and Rayalaseema, he said, “The government has already invested a lot in the Tullur region. We have recommended that it be fully developed and used department-wise. Since some zones are flood-prone, we suggested that such areas be untouched and the rest developed.”
In the Amaravati-Mangalagiri complex, the panel suggested that a High Court bench be set up while retaining the Legislative Assembly, ministers’ quarters, and Governor’s quarters.
“We have upland areas, beautiful government lands are here by the side of this road, where Nagarjuna University, APSP complex are there... without going in for investment for land acquisition, we have suggested that the government construct iconic buildings which will have a permanent and everlasting effect,” the former bureaucrat said.
For Rayalaseema, he explained that keeping in mind the Sribagh agreement and the demand of the people of the region for years, the panel had recommended that the High Court and allied courts be set up in Kurnool. Prominent among the other recommendations of the committee is the one on creating regional commissionerates for effective decentralised administration along the lines of Karnataka.
For this purpose, it suggested that a commissionerate could be set up in each of the four regions in the State -- North Coastal comprising Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Vizag; Central Coastal region consisting of East and West Godavari districts and Krishna, South Coastal region comprising Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore and Rayalaseema comprising Chittoor, Kurnool, Kadapa and Anantapur.
GN Rao said besides these recommendations, the committee has also mooted the idea of longitudinal and horizontal development.
“We have nearly 900 km roads from Srikakulam to Chittoor. By the side of the roads, we wanted the government to develop urban settlements to create employment and boost economic growth,” he explained, adding that providing a communication system and connectivity to areas near the rivers and developing strong canal system to remove congestion in towns could help develop urban settlements across the State.
In these areas, he said, solar power units must be under government control.
Earlier, the other members of the panel, including Prof KT Ravindran, who was also on the Sivaramakrishnan Committee which studied the alternatives for a Capital for the State in 2014, said the recommendations were made basically with two objectives in mind - balanced regional development and to use the idea of the Capital to obtain this regional balance.
They pointed out that at present, there was too much pressure on the coastal region and it needs to be distributed inland while making sure that all natural resources, mainly forests, are preserved. One of the panel members, Dr Mahaveer said, “Many of us have noticed that large urban settlements are concentrated in northern and central parts. We have tried to make some recommendations that will fill in this gap.”
The panel, which was formed on September 13, toured all the 13 districts, covering approximately 10,600 km and received around 35,000 suggestions.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
Four regional commissionerates in four regions for decentralised administration.
900 km from Srikakulam to Chittoor could have urban settlements by the roads to rev up the economy.
Strengthen canal system in areas near rivers, improve connectivity.
10,600 km covered by panel during its two-month study.