Sanction has been granted on Wednesday to build the Police Command and Control Centre (CCC) in Visakhapatnam. This comes as the Andhra Pradesh government is preparing ground to shift the administration to the port city. There is intense speculation that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will first start functioning from Visakhapatnam "any time after Ugadi" (the Telugu New Year's Day in April).
The original plan was to establish the CCC in Vijayawada city, which formed part of the present capital region Amaravati. As the Jagan Mohan Reddy government is bent on relocating the administrative capital to Visakhapatnam, Director General of Police D Gautam Sawang proposed that the CCC be located there instead of Vijayawada. Accordingly, Principal Secretary (Home) Kumar Vishwajeet issued an order granting the required administrative sanction.
The CCC would be built in the available government land in Visakhapatnam at a cost of Rs 13.80 crore. The government, however, asked the DGP to follow the orders of the High Court and the Supreme Court, if any, "to avoid legal complications in future".
The rider comes as the issue of relocating the state capital to Visakhapatnam is sub-judice, with several persons and organisations challenging the government move.
The AP High Court and the apex court are currently seized of the matter. In August, last year, the Supreme Court refused to entertain the Andhra government’s plea challenging the state High Court’s decision ordering a status quo on two new laws enabling the formation of the three new capitals in the state.
Earlier, a division bench in the High Court ordered for status quo on state capital issue while hearing a petition filed by activists of Amaravati Parirakhana Samithi.
The Andhra Pradesh government has proposed de-centralisation of the capital to ensure development across the state, by setting up an executive capital in Visakhapatnam, a judicial capital in Kurnool and a legislative capital in Amaravati. The ruling YSRCP has defended its move while the opposition, especially the TDP, has lashed out at the plan. Several farmers in Amaravati, which was proposed to be the capital under the Chandrababu Naidu government, have also staged protests against the proposal.