Curious plan of 3 capital cities in AP

The people of Andhra Pradesh handed a massive mandate to YSR Congress and its young leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in this year's Assembly election.

YRSCP and its leader have every right to govern the Telugu State the way they want. The recent announcement of Chief Minister YS Jagan in the Assembly that AP might have three capital cities should be seen from this perspective.

TDP supremo and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu chose the location of his choice as capital city and named it Amaravati when he was in power.

Jagan is in power now and so he also has the same right to choose the location of his choice for the capital city. Further, Naidu should also take blame for Jagan's action.

His TDP government could not complete even five per cent of the capital city even though he had four years and 35,000 acres of land at his disposal.

Had he built a permanent Secretariat, Assembly and other infrastructure, the scenario would have been different.

However, what we have to see now is whether the latest proposal of three capital cities will benefit Andhra Pradesh in long run.

And will it lead to the decentralisation of administration as some claim? Now, there is the presence of government right up to village level and political representation right up to ward level.

Several IAS officers work in each district. There are MLAs, MPs, ministers and several officials in each district. Does AP need more decentralisation?

Frankly speaking, further decentralisation of administration is a myth and misnomer when the government's network is spread to every nook and corner of the State.

The fact of the matter is that ease of doing business (EoBD) is a buzzword these days. Every government worth its salt is trying its level best to improve EoBD metrics. Among the States, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana shared top honours last year.

At the national level, the Modi government has been trying to improve the country's ease of doing business ranking among countries.

When Narendra Modi entered the coveted portals of power in the national capital in 2014, India stood at 142nd place among 190 countries in World Bank's EoBD rankings.

In the last five years, the country jumped 79 places to 63rd place in the latest rankings for the year 2020. The central government is now aiming at a place in top 50.

However, some people have a wrong notion that these rankings only benefit investors and the governments are improving the ease of doing business metrics to attract more investments and lure businessmen.

It's true that investors do look at these rankings before investing in any country. But, common people, who don't do business or make investments, also benefit as higher EoBD rank means the efficiency of the government improves which obviously benefits all those who transact with the government.

With the Jagan government planning three capitals, Andhra Pradesh will go in reverse direction when it comes to 'ease of doing business' with the government.

People will have to travel to Amaravati, the proposed legislative capital, to meet their MLAs, go to Visakhapatnam, the executive capital, if they have any work with the State government and head towards Kurnool, the judiciary capital, if they have any court work.

It is okay with this extra leg work if the shifting of Andhra Pradesh High Court to Kurnool and keeping Assembly in Amaravati bring any large-scale development to the respective locations.

But, the presence of High Court will not bring any major development to Kurnool. At the most, one building, a couple of thousands of lawyers and a handful of judges are all that Kurnool will get.

The benefits to Amaravati, the legislative capital, will be far worse. Assembly will hardly run for a couple of months in a year.

However, Visakhapatnam as the executive capital city is not a bad choice. Vizag is the most populous city in Andhra Pradesh, it's cosmopolitan in nature and has a beautiful coastline.

It has all the features and elements that make up a typical capital city. The only drawback is that it's a far-off place from districts like Anantapur, Nellore and Chittoor.

That way, Amaravati is a better place. When the Telangana government could have a Rs 20,000-crore metro network in Hyderabad under PPP mode without spending a pie barring the funds for land acquisition, the Andhra Pradesh government can tap 35,000 acres of free land which is at its disposal, to develop a world-class capital without large-scale investments.

However, if the Jagan government is not keen making Amaravati as the full-fledged capital city, then it should take a bold step and make Visakhapatnam as full-fledged capital city.

The coastal city should have executive, legislature and judiciary. Otherwise, the piece meal approach of making multiple capitals will increase revenue expenditure as the administrative machinery has to be shifted from the executive capital to legislative capital during Assembly sessions and vice versa.

It will also have to recruit additional staff to maintain offices at both the places. That will obviously impose additional financial burden on the State which is already reeling under enormous fiscal and revenue deficit.

The idea of multiple capitals seems to be aimed at assuaging hard-feelings in Amaravati for losing capital city and agitating sections in Kurnool which are seeking the presence of AP High Court there.

Instead of going for multiple capitals, Andhra Pradesh should go for cluster-based industrial development across the State. That will lead to decentralisation in industrial development which is imperative for spreading the fruits of development to all corners.

For instance, it can use available land in Amaravati to develop educational institutes, IT sector, commercial infrastructure and green manufacturing. That way, it can transform Amaravati, Vijayawada and the surrounding areas as the commercial capital of Andhra Pradesh.

If that happens, the government can reduce pressure on Visakhaptnam where it can develop tourism and related sectors. The cluster-based industrial development could be spread to Kurnool as well. But if the Jagan government sticks to its plan of multi-city capitals, the move will cripple administration there and take a heavy toll on the financially weak State in a long run.

The other thing is that if the Jagan government shifts capital from Amaravati, it should construct key infrastructure like Assembly and Secretariat before the next Assembly elections.

Otherwise, capital city issue will be back to the square one if something goes wrong and YSRCP faces hurdles in next elections. If that happens, AP's capital city will turn out to be an endless saga of pain for AP people.