The Andhra Pradesh government will start operating from its new capital region from Wednesday onwards. Even though the 'interim government complex' (IGC) is still under construction, chief minister Chandrababu Naidu is insistent on running his government from the soil of his state from June 29.
Today the muhurt has been fixed, and the first batch of five departments will occupy the space allotted to them at exactly 2.59 PM on Wednesday. With this the process of the Andhra government moving away from Hyderabad, Telangana has formally begun.
The departments of Roads and Buildings, Medical and health, labour, Rural development, and Housing will be operationalised in the first batch. The offices of the ministers and their staff are expected to occupy the ground floor of block-5 in the temporary secretariat at Velagapudi village in Amaravati capital region.
CM Naidu is shifting the administration from Hyderabad to Velagapudi village despite the fact that the AP Reorganization Act allows Hyderabad to remain the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for ten years from June 2, 2014. The shift comes amid reluctance from state employees, who favoured a ten-year stay in Hyderabad as per the Act.
It is believed that chief minister Naidu’s interference in the politics of Telangana forced him to relocate the government from Hyderabad to Amaravati overnight.
Relations between Telangana's CM K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) and CM Naidu soured following Naidu’s alleged role in the attempt to woo a nominated Anglo-Indian MLA to vote for the TDP candidate in Legislative Council elections.
Opposition parties alleged that a deal had been struck between Naidu and KCR after a heated war of words: KCR won’t pursue the case being investigated by Telangana CID, and in return Naidu would vacate Hyderabad immediately.
Naidu first relocated his office to Vijayawada. Later he mounted pressure on Andhra state employees to shift their offices to the interim secretariat at a village called Velagapudi, in the proposed capital region. Though the employees were reluctant to move overnight to Andhra, they fell in line as they could not force a change in the government's stand.
The cost of this complex will cross ₹1000 crore once all facilities have been installed. The opposition Congress and YSR Congress cried foul at this staggering cost since the government will eventually vacate this building shift to a permanent secretariat in Amaravati in a few years. They alleged the cost was a sheer waste of public money.
The temporary offices, including the Secretariat, will be scattered in Velagapudi, Vijayawada and Guntur towns which are separated by about 50 km and not connected by proper roads.
On Monday, about 11 offices of heads of the Departments (HoD) also set up their base at Vijayawada while the Social Welfare and Tribal Welfare Department shifted to Guntur.
One solace for secretariat employees is that the new interim government complex is being designed on the lines of a corporate office. "There will be a computer on every table, and all offices will be air-conditioned and dust-free. All records and files will be kept online. The cabins of ministers, secretaries and their staff will be located in proper order," CM Naidu assured on Saturday after visiting Velagapudi.
He inspected the fifth block of the complex, where the ground floor was being made ready for occupation by June 29. The first floor will be ready by July 6. The ground floors of the remaining four blocks of the complex will be completed by July 15, and the first floors by July 21.
Till the civil works are completed, employees have to work amid the din of plumbers, electricians, painters, polishers and trucks that transport men and material. The chief minister called upon employees to put up with these "small difficulties” for the sake of their 'motherland'.
