Visakhapatnam, September 20, 2023: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has informed his cabinet that the state administration will start functioning from Visakhapatnam on Dussehra. The cabinet met on Wednesday as the Assembly is set to begin its monsoon session on Thursday.
Reddy said the chief minister’s office would shift to Visakhapatnam on the Dussehra day, November 2, and that the ministers should be prepared to work from there.
The cabinet has resolved to implement a fee reimbursement scheme for the children of retired government employees and to provide benefits of the Aarogyasri scheme to the retired government employees and their kin. The cabinet also decided that each government employee should have a permanent house site by the time he or she retires. The cabinet gave its nod to the Guaranteed Pension Scheme Bill for government employees according to the reports published in indianexpress.com.
The cabinet meeting approved proposals to allot 50 per cent of seats to tribals in the upcoming engineering college in Kurupam and to construct 8,424 houses for the Polavaram flood victims.
During the Assembly session, the government may introduce the Minimum Support Price Bill.
Reddy, who has been pushing for decentralised development, announced at the International Diplomatic Alliance Meet in New Delhi on January 31 that Visakhapatnam would become the capital of the state soon.
The chief minister has proposed establishing three capitals to ensure equal development of the state. While Amaravati, which previous chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had started to develop as the capital, will be the legislative capital, Visakhapatnam will be the executive/administration capital, and Kurnool will be the judicial capital.
At the Global Investors Summit held at Visakhapatnam in March, Reddy said he might shift the administration to the city in July. However, it was postponed as the offices, buildings and residential quarters were still being established. A few high-rises on Rushikonda Hill belonging to the tourism department and two empty government-aided engineering college buildings will house most of the government offices, sources said.
A government guesthouse is being converted into the chief minister’s residence-cum-office. An international airport is coming up at Bhogapuram, on the outskirts of the city.
YSRCP ministers have said the development of Visakhapatnam as a capital city will fuel the growth of the state’s north coastal areas like the former undivided districts of Vizianagaram and Srikakulam.
