VISAKHAPATNAM: The executive capital in Visakhapatnam has evoked positive response from youth, students and industry who hailed the decision stating that it will propel growth in north Andhra and provide employment opportunities to jobless. However, traders and elders opined that there will not be any change in the living standards rather they may feel the pinch due to increase in cost of living in the days to come.
Nishit, a third-year law student of Andhra University, said the executive capital will bring new industries to Visakhapatnam and the local youth will be largely benefited. He said that it will also check migration of people from north Andhra as they will get work in the city. Echoing his views, Ashish, another law student, said more IT and IT-enabled services companies will set up shop in the city and this will be a boon for tech graduates.
TDP MLA and party district president Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar said they welcome Vizag as executive capital. However, in the process the grandiose plans to develop Amaravati should not be buried. He said 33,000 farmers have voluntarily given lands for capital and their interests should be protected. Raju, who owns a kiosk, said there is hardly any benefit the common man will get with executive capital.
Advocate Kolaka Sriramamurthy congratulated the State government for finally getting the nod of the Governor for decentralisation bill. However, he said it was not correct to shift the capital from Amaravati as thousands of crores of rupees spent on it, will now go waste. Jayaraj, a dental student, said he was happy that Vizag has become capital.
The city will attract more investments and it will be value for money for the investors, he said. Owing to the presence of the CM camp office in the city, there will be lot of improvement on law and order front, he said.
BJP MLC PVN Madhav said it was the Governor’s prerogative to give consent to the three capitals bill sent by the government. He said the party wants Amaravati as State capital. He said it was not right to change the capital whenever a new government takes charge.
He said that both YSR Congress and Telugu Desam Party were politicising the capital issue and they are least bothered about development. Former BJP floor leader in the Assembly P Vishnu Kumar Raju said there was fear among people that the peaceful atmosphere of the city will be disturbed and there will be more instances of land grabbing. He opined that there will be increase in traffic problems.
Visakhapatnam zonal chairman of AP Chambers of Commerce and Industry P Sudheer sought the government to focus on improving infrastructure and removing traffic bottlenecks. CITU State president Ch Narasinga Rao said the three capitals will not help in the development of the State. He advised the government to focus on irrigation and industry instead of diverting the attention of people in the name of capitals. Thanking the Chief Minister, INTUC leader Mantri Rajasekhar said now new industries will come to the region.
Vizag MP MVV Satyanarayana cuts cake, thanks CM
Vizag MP MVV Satyanarayana cut a cake at his office to celebrate the occasion. He thanked Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for making Visakhapatnam as the executive capital. He said it was the idea of the Chief Minister to ensure equitable development of all three regions in the State
Construction industry to get boost
CREDAI secretary B Srinivas said it will give boost to the construction industry which has been hit hard due to Covid-19. He said there may be immediate change in land prices in and around the city. Vizag is a beautiful city and has all the infrastructure, Srinivas said. He exuded confidence that all pending projects will be revived soon
‘Jagan committed to equitable development’
Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao said that Vizag has all the infrastructure facilities to be made executive capital. There was no need for huge investments unlike Amaravati, he said and added that the executive capital will develop backward region of north Andhra district. He said the CM was committed to the development of all regions in the State