Demand for Vizag as capital gains momentum

VISAKHAPATNAM: The demand for making Vizag as the new capital of the residuary Andhra Pradesh has gained momentum following the visit of the KC Sivaramakrishnan Committee to the city.

People from various walks of life, ranging from political parties to industrialists and academicians to representatives of people's organisations are pitching in to extend their support for the people's demand where a few of them even met the panel and submitted their representations in this regard.

Being the largest city in the Seemandhra region, in terms of area and population, Vizag has acquired the status of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and its population exceeds that of Vijayawada and Guntur put together.

In their memoranda to the Committee on new capital, the representatives of the various organisations noted that Vizag meets all the requirements needed for location of the new capital.

The arguments that the Bay City does not have adequate land for construction of a new capital and that its location was 'disadvantageous' were not based on facts, they claimed.

'Nearly 25,000 acres of government land is available for the construction of the Legislative Assembly, the Legislative Council, the Secretariat and residential quarters for ministers, government officers and staff.

Neither the government nor the officials has to worry about education and medical facilities as several major institutions already exist here.

With various facilities already available in the city, Vizag ranks first in the divided state and other places are nowhere near in comparison with it,' argued D Varada Reddy, an expert member of National Tourism Advisory Council in his representation.

The Air Travellers' Association (India) explained that Visakhapatnam has an international airport, which connects all metro cities in the country and has international connectivity to Dubai and Singapore that would attract investments from multinational companies easily.

'Besides air connectivity, the city has road connectivity to four states, rail connectivity to 28 states and sea connectivity with two ports - one each in government and private sectors at Visakhapatnam and Gangavaram respectively. Tourism is another attraction,' pointed out D Rajagopal Reddy, ATAI secretary general.

The city's tourist-friendly atmosphere is being viewed as a major boost for investments.