23/03/2014
Capital search zeroes in on Mangalagiri?
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SUMIT BHATTACHARJEE
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The government is mulling building a new capital for the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh in the forest land close to Mangalagiri.
A highly-placed government source said a secret dossier from the Secretariat had been sent to the Ministry of Forest and Environment for declassification of forest land close to Mangalagiri.
Location of the capital city for Andhra Pradesh has been a bone of contention ever since the issue of bifurcation gained momentum.
According to sources, the groundwork to find a capital city began at least two months before the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill was actually tabled in Parliament. Now, the place has almost been finalised.
Guntur district has 1,34,420 hectares of forest land, one among the highest in the State, and a major portion of it falls under degraded and rock outcrop categories.
A small portion of 2,250 hectares near Nizamapatnam had been earmarked for mangroves, said District Forest Officer K. Lohitasyudu.
The total extent of forest land in Mangalagiri block under Tadepalli reserve is 485 hectares, and it is believed that this is being targeted for declassification. The national highway cuts through this forest land and Acharya Nagarjuna University. There is also a proposal to take over ANU campus.
Former Rajya Sabha member Yalamanchili Sivaji said, “I don’t understand why the government needs land in hectares when the entire capital infrastructure can be covered in 50 to 60 acres”.
Sources confirm that the groundwork for finding a new capital began well before the tabling of T-Bill
