Temporary Andhra Pradesh capital is scrapped

Hyderabad: Highly-placed sources say that the AP government’s plan of shifting offices from Hyderabad to the capital region on the Vijayawada-Guntur stretch may be shelved by four years. Though officials are maintaining that the construction has neither been scrapped nor has been implemented, sources said the project was shelved. Enough indications to this were also given by CM N. Chandrababu Naidu.

Naidu ready to work from under a tree, but staff quarters will take time

AP Chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu admitted that shifting the employees to the capital region without providing proper office space and residential quarters might prove to be counter productive. Work efficiency might go down if the employees are shifted without being provided proper facilities, he said.

Satya Vani Projects and Consultants Private Limited (SVPCPL), which had bagged the contract to prepare the master plan and design the temporary capital has also not received any orders to go ahead and construct the temporary capital buildings, said its director P. Surya Prakash.

The government's decision will come as a breather to the AP employees working in Hyderabad as they will not have to uproot and shift, yet.

“Even I would like to run the state administration from Vijayawada and Guntur and my camp office is also getting readied there. I am willing to work under a tree in the capital city area. But providing residential quarters to nearly 20,000 government employees will take time,” he said.

Sources told this correspondent that the Chief Minister has suggested to the Singapore government to include government employees’ office and residential quarters in the first phase of the capital city's master plan, that is targeted to be completed before the 2019 elections.

Secretary general of joint action committee of government Employees and teachers, N. Chandrasekhar Reddy, told DC that though the employees too were willing to “work under trees”, they needed proper shelter after office hours.

"Ultimately the state administration has to shift to the capital city in AP. There is no doubt about it and all the employees are prepared for it. We are also suggesting the government to shift a few offices like the Chief Minister's Relief Fund to the capital region as people from Seemandhra need not come to Hyderabad to donate money," he said.