Three capitals - a right step in the right direction

The 2020 July 31 Friday will be a 'green letter day' in the history of Andhra Pradesh of 13 districts after the fateful division of the state from United Andhra Pradesh. The Governor's approval of the repeal of CRDA and Capital Decentralisation Bill will be a significant and a right step in the right direction.

Consequently, Visakhapatnam will now be the administrative capital, Amaravati the legislative capital and Kurnool the legislative capital. Thanks to all the machinations by the main opposition party in the state, this approval did not happen fast and straight, despite the voluminous and scientific reports submitted by all the expert committees that studied where and what kind of a capital or what model of development the new state needs.

The assent of the Governor to the said bills gives us a hope that a Hyderabad-like development is averted in the state thanks to the determined efforts of the Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy. The road ahead by the state government must be for a decentralised development that guarantees irrigation, industry, institutions, education, health and employment to all the regions of the state and people in general and the backward regions and vulnerable sections in particular.

Let us hope that the litigation by the vested interests sponsored by political pessimists in favour of centralised development stops here. This is also the time for all public intellectuals in the state to call a spade a spade while assessing the functioning of the state government and the role of the opposition also, which alone makes the system more accountable and beneficial to the people.

A Raghunatha Reddy,Kadapa