The lead stories carried by pro-Telugu Desam Party media and channels on Wednesday over the report of the six-member expert committee headed by retired IAS officer G N Rao on vulnerability of Visakhapatnam as the administrative capital of Andhra Pradesh pushed the Jagan Mohan Reddy government on the defensive.
In its 147-page report, the committee mentioned a paragraph on “development constraints at representative nodes,” in which it said how Visakhapatnam is not suitable for any major new governance activity.
The report described Visakhapatnam presents an eco-fragile zone with potential threat of severe cyclones, floods and rise in sea levels.
It is compounded with CRZ (Coastal regulation Zone) constraints and coastline erosion. Infiltration of saline water into ground water table is a cause of concern, the report said.
The other constraints that the committee observed for making Visakhapatnam as the seat of governance are: issues of industrial pollution including that from the Steel Plant and port related activities, security threat in view of the presence of Eastern Naval Command, lack of substantial chunks of government lands etc.
“Any major new governance activity is neither required from a settlement pattern point of view nor desirable,” the committee said.
Soon after this report came out, the YSRC government had to go on the defensive. State municipal and urban development minister Botsa Satyanarayana tried to launch a counter-attack on the TDP and its supporting media, rather than explaining the reasons why the government had preferred Vizag as administrative capital.
He posed a reverse question as to whether Mumbai and Chennai, which were also on the seat coast, were not vulnerable to floods and cyclones.
He said the high-power committee had discussed both GN Rao panel and BCG reports before coming to a final decision.
“How can the TDP, which described the committee reports as bogus and burnt their copies, are now quoting the same committee reports to stall the three capitals formation?” Botsa asked.
Apparently realising that Botsa has failed to do justice to his job, Jagan is learnt to have asked G N Rao himself to give a clarification.
In a hurriedly held press conference in Hyderabad, Rao said the reports published in a section of media was only a part of the discussion in the report, but not part of the recommendations or operative portion.
“We have analysed the strengths and constraints of Visakhapatnam, Machilipatnan and Vijayawada for the capital. The executive capital suggested by the committee is closer to Vizianagaram, away from the core city of Visakhapatnam and hence, it does not have much constraints,” Rao said.