In yet another step towards shifting the administrative capital of Andhra Pradesh from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam, the YSR Congress party on Tuesday appealed to President of India Ramnath Kovind to declare the capital region of Amravati as unconstitutional and illegal.
“We request you to direct the Government of India to recognize that the decision on “Amaravati” is unconstitutional, illegal and not notified either by Gazette or by any Government Order and hence, make necessary changes in the Map of India published by the Survey of India,” senior YSRC leader and former minister Dharmana Prasada Rao said in his letter to President of India.
He said the then Andhra Pradesh government had declared “Amaravati” as new capital without considering the recommendations of the report by the Sivaramakrishnan committee. The said report was neither discussed in the cabinet meeting or in the Legislative Assembly and Council.
He said the declaration of “Amaravati” as capital is unconstitutional as it violated the fundamental constitutional principle of “justice” and “equality of opportunity” in our Constitution. Moreover, the decision on Amaravati was not notified by any official gazette or by any government order.
“It is unfortunate that constitutional functions are not conducted from “Common Capital Hyderabad” and are run from a place which do not have legal sanctity,” Dharmana said.
He pointed out that the Sivaramakrishnan committee had clearly stated that a single large capital city was not a feasible option. The existing concentration in Hyderabad of the legislature, the courts and the executive comprising numerous ministries, departments, commissionerates and directorates has happened over several years. This concentration itself has been a major bone of contention in the process of bifurcation, it said.
The committee seriously recommended against the location of capital in VGTM region and recommended that GOAP should revisit its decision as it would affect the best available agriculture lands in the country, as it contributes more than 1% of rice production of country, create unemployment in agriculture sector and not suitable for High rise Buildings and expensive cost of construction.
Now, the present government, following the recommendation of the expert committee is seriously thinking about revisiting the decision and appointed a high- power committee to study reports of GN Rao Committee and Boston Consulting Group and considering to distribute various capital functions to all three regions of the State.
“In the circumstances, we request your good offices to direct the Government Of India to recognize that the decision on “Amaravati” is unconstitutional, illegal and not notified either by Gazette or by any Government Order and make necessary changes in the Map of India published by the Survey of India,” Dharmana said.