As the deadline for the experts committee headed by retired IAS officer G N Rao is going to conclude gathering of opinions from people on the capital city of Andhra Pradesh ends on Tuesday, confusion prevails over continuance of Amaravati as the state capital.
Adding uncertainty to this confusion, municipal administration minister Botsa Satyanarayana reiterated that the present location of Amaravati was unfit to be the capital city of the state.
At the same time, he clarified that the government had never said Amaravati would not be the capital of Andhra.
“The G N Rao committee was collecting the views of the people and will give the report where the best location is for the capital. People have already expressed their views on capital,” he said.
Now, the question is whether the capital will remain at Amaravati or not.
According to sources, Amaravati will continue to be the capital city of Andhra Pradesh, but there is no guarantee that it would cover the existing location.
“What we are calling today as Amaravati as the capital city is not exactly the original Amaravati. It is at least 20 km away from the temple town of Amaravati on the banks of Krishna river. It is only to remember the glory of the history that the present capital is named after Amaravati. So, even if the capital is relocated, it can still be called Amaravati,” a source said.
Sources said the capital region is likely to be moved towards Mangalagiri and expanded towards Nagarjuna University area towards Guntur.
“There is a huge extent of government land apart from some private ventures which will be taken over for the capital city,” sources said.