Hyderabad: The five-member Experts' Committee constituted by the Centre, to recommend a site for the capital of the successor state of Andhra Pradesh, held its first meeting in Delhi on Thursday. The committee is being led by Union urban development secretary K. Sivaramakrishnan.
The two-hour meeting was attended by state Chief Secretary P.K. Mohanty, other Committee members and senior officials of the Union home ministry.
According to sources, the Committee will visit the Seemandhra region in May and have wide-ranging discussions with all the stake-holders. The sites being considered for the new capital are Vijayawada, Guntur, Ongole, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Kurnool, Donakonda and Amaravati.
The Committee will look into factors like availability of land, water and other essential natural resources, potential connectivity by rail, road and air, among other things. It would evaluate their comparative suitability based on available data, site visits and consultations with the stakeholders, Central government and the existing government of Andhra Pradesh and the successor state of Andhra Pradesh and submit its report by August 31.
After the meeting, Mr Sivaramakrishnan said the Committee would visit Seemandhra for people’s opinions after the elections. The Committee would meet again on May 2.
Meanwhile, Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan met Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Thursday to discuss various issues of the two states.
