With 12 days left to shift govt offices, no sign of buildings in Amaravati

Amaravati: In exactly 12 days from today, Andhra Pradesh government's offices are supposed to relocate from Hyderabad to the state's transitional headquarters at Velagapudi in the capital region but not a single block of the new buildings under construction here is ready.

But Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu exuded confidence that everything would be in place by June 27 to move "at least some offices" to the transitional headquarters.

"On the 22nd we will notify the Secretariat departments that need to shift here in the first round," the Chief Minister said after inspecting the construction activity here this afternoon.

Already, offices of some heads of departments started moving to the capital region in Guntur and Vijayawada, he pointed out.

Two days ago, the government had issued guidelines for the relocation of government staff from Hyderabad to Amaravati but did not specify the secretariat departments that would shift.

In the meantime, the two construction majors – Shapoorji Pallonji and L&T -- informed state Chief Secretary Satya Prakash Tucker that construction of the six blocks (of one lakh sqft each) would be completed only by August. The original deadline set for them ended today.

Following this, the Chief Secretary announced that shifting of secretariat departments would be possible only by August.

When asked about this, the Chief Minister remained evasive and only said they would announce on June 22 the departments that would shift in the first round on June 27. "When you are constructing a house, everything will not be ready at a time," Chandrababu remarked.

When pointed out that there is no proper road to reach the transitional headquarters, he said foundation for a new road would be laid on June 20. "We will first create one approach and later develop other roads according to the master plan," the CM added.