Vijayawada :

With the state government deciding to shift its base to Vijayawada, making it a temporary capital of Andhra Pradesh, an upbeat mood prevailed in the city Tuesday. Though Vijayawada is regarded as the frontrunner in the capital race, in the absence of any official communication from politicians, businessmen have adopted a ‘wait and watch’ policy.

Now that an official announcement has been made by the AP cabinet Tuesday, people from all walks of life were visibly elated. “Vijayawada being announced as the temporary capital will be seen as a giant stride in the process of becoming permanent capital. This will surely give the city a lot of elevation,” expressed RV Subba Rao, a city-based entrepreneur.

With the government offices likely to be shifted to the city soon, all eyes are now on the office space available. Medha IT Park near Gannavaram, Government Polytechnic College, DRDA and DWMA campus at Gollapudi and the newly constructed irrigation office complex, among others may be used to accommodate the offices, to be shifted from Hyderabad. For instance, there is about two lakh square feet of office space available at Medha IT Park, but 20,000 sq ft has already been occupied.

Despite irrigation minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao is conducting all the activities from the newly constructed irrigation office in Vijayawada and the chief engineers having shifted their offices here, the new office can house the other departments as well. “Vijayawada has been denied its rightful share for the past six decades. But the announcement of the city as temporary capital will give it at an opportunity to emerge as golden Vijayawada. Even our builders have decided to help the government in shifting the base and are ready to allocate the available office space here to the government offices,” informed Greater Vijayawada Builders Association president Gadde Rajling.

Though it is just a temporary capital, there is a notion prevalent among everyone that this is just a step further in the process of making Vijayawada a permanent capital. With this, even the realty sector is poised to grow. As a result, land, office and residential spaces, which were quite far from common man’s reach in almost all places, will be corrected.

Not just realty and businesses, but all the other sectors are expecting a bright future ahead because of the move. Vijayawada will witness an altogether different growth following the announcement of it becoming the temporary capital, which will go down as an important land mark in the history of city.

“Vijayawada is located centrally and has all facilities like sufficient space, infrastructure, connectivity and water. Selecting the city as a temporary capital will help the denizens from all the 13 districts in finding some sort of work. Though Hyderabad is the common capital for 10 years, there is no way that we stay there for long now that even the IAS officers are being humiliated. In this milieu, shifting the government offices to Vijayawada, by announcing it as temporary capital, will not just send positive signals to the AP public, but also helps the administration machinery to settle in the state and development will take off soon,” Vijayawada Central MLA Bonda Umamaheshwara Rao exuded confidence.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service / August 13th, 2014