Capital talk: Vizag has enough land

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Feb 28, 2014: As the suspense continues on the capital for residuary state and  the race among various cities hots up, locals are of the opinion that, there is a well orchestrated conspiracy to deprive Vizag, of its legitimate due in the event of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

Dismissing the arguments of non availability of huge chunks of land availability in Vizag, local officials in August last prepared a detailed report on the availability of land in the district and sent it to CCLA to set up a new capital for divided Andhra Pradesh.

 As per the sources in the revenue department, huge chunks of land were identified near Anadapuram and also the land covered under Peddapalli reserve forest area. The revenue staff identified around 13,000 acres of vacant land covered under this Peddapalli reserve forest area coming under Makavarapalem, Kotavuratla, S Rayavaram mandals in Narsipatnam revenue division. Besides, another 5,000 acres were also identified between Rambilli and Achyuthapuram mandals which were acquired for the SEZ and left unused or unutilized. 

 Availability of 18,000 acres at one place and also nearer to national highway would be the ideal location for Vizag to be pitched as capital for Seemandhra.  Site plans, maps, survey numbers, boundaries and all the other details on the land available were also sent by the local officials along with the report.

Apart from the land that was mentioned in the report, around 11,000 acres of  land that was acquired to set up Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) is also left unused and available.

“A section of political leaders, capitalists and lobbyists have hatched a conspiracy by forming a group to undermine the chances of locating capital in Vizag. Various groups which have been working against interests of Vizag has stepped up misinformation campaign against advantages of the city though the fact that Visakhpatnam emerged has top contender for capital in a recent survey,” said K Narasinga Rao, secretary of newly launched Vizag Citizen’s Forum.