Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday said the location of new capital for residual State of Andhra Pradesh would be finalised in three to four months.
“Though Hyderabad will be the joint capital of Telangana and AP for 10 years, the new capital will be ready in three to four years,” he said at a special plenary session of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.
He committed a faux pas by saying that the new capital would be developed in PPP mode and later when mediapersons sought a clarification from him, he pointed out that he stated that jocularly.
Mr. Ramesh had few a embarrassing moments during the interactive session when local entrepreneurs Ramakrishna Narappareddy and O. Naresh Kumar came down heavily on bifurcating AP bulldozing popular opinion in Seemandhra and not allotting any funds for development of the residual State.
While Mr. Naresh Kumar questioned why Telangana formation was being notified without any time-frame for release of funds to Seemandhra, Mr. Narappareddy wanted to know what was the guarantee the words mentioned in AP Reorganisation Bill on so-called promises might change from ‘shall to maybe’ later. He criticised the UPA government and the main Opposition for ‘match-fixing’ to slice the State like a cake.
Earlier, in his address, Mr. Ramesh urged that the CII AP unit should not be divided into two and opined that it should play an integrated role by channelling synergies from both the regions.
Common agendaThe Minister said the division would throw new opportunities for both States and explained how the package and special category State status would bring new investment to AP.
He said the division had been painful, controversial and acrimonious. “Now Telangana creation is a reality — a legal reality. Soon it will be a political reality. Let’s make the transition as smooth as possible,” he said.
Mr. Ramesh said the Centre would formulate common minimum economic agenda for both States. He said the Hyderabad model of development – wherein all projects were concentrated only in the city – should not be replicated.
CII Southern Region chairman B. Santhanam, AP chairman B. Ashok Reddy, Vizag zone new chairman G.V.L. Satya Kumar, and immediate past chairman G. Sambasiva Rao spoke.
