Senior citizens pitch for Vizag as new capital

Be it the blooming industrial units, infrastructure, geographical factors, better connectivity in terms of road, rail, air and sea or the existence of cosmopolitan culture, Vizag has every quality required for the new capital city of the residual State of Andhra Pradesh.

Calling to make the City of Destiny as the capital of Seemandhra, suggesting a fresh name ‘Telugu Nadu’, a group of senior citizens from different walks of life shared their views at a meeting organised by Praja Spandana here on Monday.

Association president C.S. Rao emphasised that there was enough land to create new infrastructure. “We have enough land in the district near Madhurawada, Bhogapuram, Kothavalasa, and Pendurthi for building new Assembly. Similarly, since the Waltair Division of East Coast Railway earns an annual turnover of approximately Rs.6,500 crore, there is a potential to create a new railway zone,” he said.

While Sekharamantri Prabhakara Rao highlighted the existence of the city’s cosmopolitan culture and its communal harmony required for a capital city, former Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University K.V. Ramana along with others recommended decentralisation of administration. “Decentralised administration helps gain an edge over concentrated development of a single location. Depending on the availability of the resources, each district can be concentrated to tap its economic growth. For instance, Coastal Andhra is known for its academic potential and medical facilities, the stretch covering Nellore to East Godavari is suitable for agriculture purpose. Similarly, we have 15,000 acres of surplus land at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant which can be channelised for capital growth,” the representatives said.

Natural resources

With the availability of the natural resources in abundance and good infrastructure amenities, they said, the Port City has all the potential to become the new capital city.

Narava Prakasa Rao of Bala Vikas Foundation said that the group members would submit a proposal advocating Vizag as the capital city to the Sivaramakrishnan Committee before the polling date.