Anxiety over temporary capital plan

The expert committee on new Andhra Pradesh capital, headed by former bureaucrat Prof Sivaramakrishnan, has expressed concern over the shifting of the administrative machinery to Vijayawada in the name of setting up a temporary capital.
"The committee is concerned that any ad hoc invitation to all government departments to locate themselves within Guntur and Vijayawada will lead to unplanned and haphazard development and will be a fait accompli for the permanent capital, as has happened in the case of Uttarakhand." The report comes in the background of the fact that municipal minister P Narayana, who heads a state-level committee on capital formation, has often told the media of the government's intention to shift all directorates and commissionerates to Vijayawada.
The report, which was sent to the state government on Thursday, said that at present, the efforts at relocation should be limited to the offices of the CM, ministers and secretaries in the area beyond the urban parts of Vijayawada, Guntur, Tenali and Mangalagiri (VGMT). These temporary arrangements, the report said, should not become a "fait accompli" for the permanent location.
Apprehensive of the possibility of the temporary capital becoming permanent, the committee cited the example of Uttarakhand. "?it was expected that Gairsain would be the capital and Dehradun would only be a temporary capital. It is nearly 10 years since Uttarakhand was created, but Dehradun has continued to be the capital with all the attendant problems of inadequate accommodation, infrastructure and congestion," the committee said.
The committee also said that geographical connectivity, centrality and proximity are attractive concepts but need not be the only one for guiding development, thus suggesting that the government review its plan to set up the capital in the VGTM area. Not in favour of hurrying the process, the panel recommended that the state government avail the full 10 years mandated by the APR Act to use the common capital and ensure that the new institutional structures are strategically located.
Referring to the idle IT park building near Gannavaram, the committee was against the migration of all departments to Vijayawada and preferred the relocation of only those which are crucial to carry on the urgent tasks of government.