With the government setting June 1 as the deadline for employees to Vijayawada, the heads of various departments are scouting for suitable buildings for locating their offices and providing residential accommodation to staff.
The Chief Minister’s camp office itself is undergoing rapid transformation into a posh complex while steps have been taken to establish Secretariat at Medha Towers near the Gannavaram airport and accommodate most of the Ministers in the Rain Tree Park opposite Acharya Nagarjuna University in Guntur district.
As far as the accommodation of MLCs and MLAs is concerned, the government is said to be examining various options that include constructing a new building in the place of a dilapidated one abutting the State guest house and taking over a new high–rise building at Kanur.
The proposal to accommodate some Ministers in the Haritha Berm Park has not yet been decided. While about 10 lakh square feet of space is required to house all the departments, employees associations have no clue whether or not the government will be able to provide accommodation for all offices in the city mainly due to the exorbitant rentals and real estate costs.
For the time being, offices of some departments started functioning from rented premises in Vijayawada and Guntur. One department that has already moved is the APSRTC headquarters to massive Pandit Nehru Bus Station Complex.
With the government asking employees to move to Vijayawada by the end of February 2016, which is their second option (November 2015 being the first one), things are expected to move swiftly in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the flyover at Indrakeeladri is going to be the first major milestone to be crossed by the government in putting the building blocks together.
Foundation stones for pillars and under–passes are being laid and expansion of Seethammavari Padalu – Prakasam barrage stretch of NH-9 to four lanes is set to commence in a week, according to official sources. Benz Circle flyover is also expected to start taking tangible shape in near future.
(Reporting by V. Raghavendra)
