Concentration of development in Hyderabad for over half-a-century, while ignoring other regions in combined Andhra Pradesh had led to the demand for a separate State. Repeating the same mistake in Amaravati will lead to similar demands from north Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, opined speakers at a meeting on ‘decentralisation’.
Former Member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) K.S. Chalam, former Chairman of AP State Council of Higher Education K.C. Reddy, former Vice-Chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University V. Bala Mohan Das, president of AP Chamber of Commerce and Industry Federation Pydah Krishna Prasad, and professor in political science Ravi were among those who spoke at the meeting, organised by Jana Chaitanya Vedika, at the Public Library here on Monday.
Jana Chaitanya Vedika State president V. Lakshmana Reddy presided. Interestingly, all the speakers, except Prof. Chalam, who is from north Andhra, hail from other regions of AP, including Guntur, Krishna, and Kadapa districts. While unanimously welcoming the decision taken by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government to make Visakhapatnam as the Executive capital of AP and Kurnool as the Judicial capital by setting up the High Court and retaining the Legislative capital in Amaravati, they wondered as to why anyone should object to the decentralisation of administration, which could spur the economic growth of the State as a whole.
While Amaravati may be the centre of the State, the land acquired was not suitable for the capital but fit for agriculture. The previous government had ignored the Sivaramakrishnan Committee report and destroyed the fertile lands, which was yielding three to four crops. They appealed to the Opposition parties to stop politicising the issue and think of what was necessary for the State and how decentralisation could help in the development of all regions.
Dig at Opposition
There were 12 States in India, where the capital and High Courts were at different places. It was unfortunate that the Opposition was indulging in a false campaign that there were no such States in India. The objective of decentralisation was optimum utilisation of the available resources in all regions.