Vizag Guest house has nothing to do with capital: AP Government

Amaravati: The state government on Monday made it clear that the construction of the guest house in Visakhapatnam had nothing to do with the shifting of administrative capital of the state.

Advocate general of the state Subrahmanyam Sriram here on Monday told the High Court that the construction of a guest house at Kapuluppada on the Visakhapatnam beach road was only aimed at creating permanent infrastructure for the state government.

He said similar guest houses were planned to be constructed at Kakinada and Tirupati as well.

"At present, the government is paying huge rent to the private parties for the state guest houses at these places. Hence, the government has decided to construct permanent guest houses only to avoid paying huge rents," the advocate general said.

He clarified that the guest house at Visakhapatnam was not part of the exercise to form three capitals with executive capital at Visakhapatnam.

"The size of the guest house depends on the population of the area," he explained. The advocate for petitioner said doubts were being raised on the size of the guest house at Visakhapatnam as there are apprehensions that it might be used as a camp office of the chief minister.

"No details were furnished about the size of the guest house, the number of rooms and the area in which it is being constructed at Visakhapatnam. There are also no details about the other two guest houses," the petitioner argued.

He, however, said there was no objection if the government wanted to construct the camp offices for Chief Minister at various places. The court adjourned the hearing to November 2.