Farmers willing to share land for new Andhra Pradesh capital; state authorities promise employment

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao on Tuesday demanded replacement of Urban Development Authority with the Capital Development Authority to expedite development of Vijayawada capital region.

"The Capital development Authority should be constituted under the chairmanship of chief minister to take up the development works in the Vijaywada capital region in the place of existing Urban Development Authority," Rao said.

The minister, who is one of the members of the land pooling committee for new capital of Andhra Pradesh, said most of farmers are willing to provide their land to government for the purpose on a sharing basis.

The new AP capital would be developed in four tehsils--Tulluru and Mangalagiri in Guntur district—and Ibrahimpatnam and Kanchakacharla in Krishna district.

"Both Guntur and Krishna districts would be linked by constructing a ring road between Tullur (Guntur district) and Gollapudi (Krishna district)," Rao said.

He said the government has already promised rehabilitation and employment for farmers ready to relinquish their land for the new capital.