The expert committee on new capital city for the successor State of Andhra Pradesh will be visiting various cities and towns to consider them as potential new capital cities from May 9 to 14.
The committee headed by K. C. Sivaramakrishnan, former Secretary of Union Urban Development Ministry, met at New Delhi on Friday and decided to visit Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry and Guntur in the first phase .
The committee members will tour the above areas for a first hand assessment of their strengths and weaknesses in terms of suitability and terms of reference given to it by the Union Government. They will visit Rayalaseema and other areas in its next visit, sources said. The committee was constituted in March to study various alternatives and recommend a new capital for the successor State of Andhra Pradesh. The committee also invited suggestions from public and organisations for the location of new capital and email them to expcomt@mha.gov.in till May 7. An official said that the committee received about 8,000 mails and they were yet to be analysed by the Union Home Ministry.
Sources said that of 13 districts of Seemandhra, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Nellore and Kadapa were considered as extreme cases for the location of new capital. However, the committee has not yet ruled out or tentatively zeroed in on any location.
The committee has been given time to submit its report on the new capital by August 31. The Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act stipulated that Hyderabad would remain as common capital for both the successor States for a period of 10 years and by then a separate capital would be developed for the Andhra Pradesh State.
