Capital of Andhra Pradesh must be centrally located in the State of 13 districts, Minister for Urban Development P. Narayana reiterated the Government’s stand here on Monday.
Reacting to a question during a press conference he addressed along with Minister for HRD Ganta Srinivasa Rao, about Visakhapatnam’s chances in the location of the capital. In the past capitals of some States were located in a corner but it could not be followed now, he said.
Mr. Narayana is also heading the State government’s committee on capital option while an expert committee constituted by the Central government, headed by former Union Secretary Sivaramakrishnan, is expected to submit its report during August. An exercise is going on to identify the place for capital and capital cities in India and abroad were also being examined.
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On the location of 11 Central institutions sanctioned to AP, the Minister said though the Centre wanted them to be located in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati since these cities were having airports, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu wanted them distributed to all districts in the State after other districts staked their claim.
On Sunday he visited the sites suggested by the District Administrations of Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram for establishing an IIM and a Girijan university respectively. The reports sent by the District Collectors would be forwarded to the Centre which sends it teams for deciding the locations, he said.