AP capital: Krishna district emerges as best performer on Regional Development Index

Hyderabad: Krishna district is the best performer on the Regional Development Index followed by Visakhapatnam, Guntur, East Godavari and West Godavari, according to Indian Institute for Human Settlements report prepared for Sivaramakrishnan Committee.

The report stated that Anantapur, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram are lagging behind on these indicators. Nellore and Guntur (Vijayawada) have low water risks.

The third category measured land availability. Nellore, Visakhapatnam and Kadapa have the maximum amount land available, while unused land is a constraint in Srikakulam, East Godavari and West Godavari districts.

A District and Capital Zone Suitability Index was developed using equal weights for all indicators in each category, after a sensitivity analysis showed limited variation in rank ordering with different weights.

Relatively large patches of ‘wasteland’ were located in the Rayalaseema and south coastal Andhra regions. Large areas of scrubland were located across Rayalaseema, south coastal AP and the upland areas of other districts. These often contain productive land uses and undulating terrain with limited water availability.

Landslides triggered by precipitation affect the hilly regions of Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts, and also some parts near Tirupati in Chittoor district. These regions are prone to medium to low landslide hazard and can impact transportation, logistics at particular sites.

Weighing on earthquake index, number of cities, including Tirupati, Nellore, Ongole, Guntur, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry and Kakinada are at moderate risk, especially to non-engineered buildings and poor quality multi-storey building construction.

Sivaramakrishnan Committee submitted its 187-page report to the Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi

The report stated that no single large capital city is available to be Andhra Pradesh capital as of now.

The approaches included -

a) A Greenfield location in which a single city/super city is created

b) Expand existing cities

c) Distributed development

In the summary, the Committee recommended the following actions to be taken by the AP Government -

1) The Committee is not in favour of creating a green field capital city for Andhra at this stage. However, if the AP Government wants to pursue this option, it has to carry out a careful search for locations where suitably large parcels of government land could be available.

2) The Committee supports general approach of the AP Government in expanding the existing cities. However, before taking up the expansion of the existing cities, it is important that a proper assessment of infrastructure needs and possible environmental impact should be evaluated. Ad hoc and hurried locations of government offices may prove to be inappropriate and wasteful.

3) In regard to distributed development, a proper inventory has to be made of various government offices presently located in Hyderabad including departments, commissionerates, directorates etc., along with their staff component.

There should also be an inventory in regard to the companies and corporations listed in the 9th Schedule of the AP Reorganisation Act, which comprises 89 items. The AP Government has to decide which among these 89 entities are required to be set up in the state and where.

4) The locations proposed for the educational facilities mentioned in the 13th Schedule of the AP Act should also be similarly firmed up.

5) Whether it is for the expansion of existing cities or distributed development, it is obvious that the government will require land at multiple locations across the state.

The Committee has been informed that in all districts, government land up to 25 hectares may be available within 5 to 10 kms of district headquarters.

However, the assigning of these lands to landless people in recent years may pose a problem. The Committee urged the state government to undertake an urgent review of the situation to see whether it is possible to acquire the land by paying compensation to the landless people, which may be less expensive than fresh land acquisition.

6) In regard to some institutions of iconic and constitutional importance such as the Raj Bhawan, the Legislature and the High Court, the state government should use the window of time available under the AP Reorganisation Act whereby Hyderabad is available as a common capital for ten years. Making use of the time, the committee suggested that consultations with various constitutional entities and agreement about the location and extent of land required should be secured.

7) In regard to the Chief Minister’s office and offices of the Ministers and the Secretariat, the Committee has already recommended that because of the urgency for the same, the state government can look into the possibilities of suitable locations for a limited number of offices in the peripheries and beyond the Vijayawada–Guntur–Tenali-Mangalagiri (VGTM) region.