A.P. to rework law on three capitals move

• IAS NEXT, Lucknow
• 24, Nov 2021

The Andhra Pradesh Assembly has passed a Bill to repeal the A.P. Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act (aimed at setting up three capitals), and the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Repeal Act of 2020.

• The Government plans to bring a more comprehensive law that ‘dispels the wrong notions of the land-givers in Amaravati’ and clarifies its position on the legalities raised by the petitioners in the High Court.

Need for:

The repeal was intended to impart more clarity to the policy of decentralisation and an exhaustive explanation to all sections of people.

Three- capitals:

On July 31 the state government notified the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020, and the AP Capital Region Development Authority (Repeal) Act, 2020.

This law paves the way for three capitals for the state.

1. Amaravati– legislative capital.
2. Visakhapatnam– executive capital.
3. Kurnool– judicial capital.

Need for three capitals:

1. The government says it is against building one mega capital while neglecting other parts of the state. Three capitals ensure equal development of different regions of the state.
2. Decentralisation has been the central theme in recommendations of all major committees that were set up to suggest a suitable location for the capital of Andhra Pradesh. These include Justice B N Srikrishna Committee, K Sivaramakrishnan Committee, G N Rao Committee etc.

Why implementing this idea will be difficult?

1. Coordination and logistics fear: Coordinating between seats of legislature and executive in separate cities will be easier said than done, and with the government offering no specifics of a plan, officers and common people alike fear a logistics nightmare.
2. Time and costs of travel: Executive capital Visakhapatnam is 700 km from judicial capital Kurnool, and 400 km from legislative capital Amaravati. The Amaravati-Kurnool distance is 370 km. The time and costs of travel will be significant.

Which other Indian states have multiple capitals?

1. Maharashtra has two capitals– Mumbai and Nagpur (which holds the winter session of the state assembly).
2. Himachal Pradesh has capitals at Shimla and Dharamshala (winter).
3. The former state of Jammu & Kashmir had Srinagar and Jammu (winter) as capitals.