The biggest challenge ahead of the Congress would be zeroing in on a capital city and finding ample land to develop it into a metropolis, experts said. They also warned that erecting a new secretariat and assembly along with government residential quarters may take a very long time as funding comes in phases and planners in India have always lacked the vision to build adequate infrastructure for key sectors such as education, health and transport.
"In today's times, having a new capital is not an economically viable option. It takes a lot of time to build a capital and a lot of money will be wasted in the process," said DH Pai Panandikar, president of RPG Foundation, a New Delhi-based economic think tank.
"Once the capital is built, balancing the budget and revenues will also be a big criteria. The performance of new states and capitals are nothing remarkable to talk about when compared to other states," Panandikar told TOI over telephone. Andhra Pradesh's GDP stands at Rs 6.5 lakh crore and is among the top five states with Hyderabad contributing 55 per cent of the revenue, official government data shows.
In the backdrop of intense speculation and brouhaha over the location of Seemandhra's new capital, experts said town planners should learn from the roadblocks faced by other states in recent times. Citing examples of Haryana and Punjab, Panandikar said these states have till date not been able to find a new capital and have been forced to use Chandigarh as the joint capital. While the Jharkhand government's attempt to build an ideal capital not far from Ranchi is still stuck in paperwork, Chhattisgarh's Naya Raipur has finally taken shape 13 years after the proposal was first mooted.
"We have to wait and see what arrangements are proposed for the governance of Hyderabad and for the funding of any new state capital. This is a different situation than what happened in states created earlier," said Louise Tillin, a lecturer of politics at Kings College, London. "While Uttarakhand became a special category state and received support for industrial development from the central government, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have not received this kind of preferential treatment by the central government and have been more dependent on natural resources," Tillin said.
Those aware of the local conditions and requirement also question the rationale behind the assurances by some top politicos that the Centre will fund the capital. "How can it entirely fund a new capital running into lakhs of crores? They will have to depend on the private sector for funds," said K Padmanabhaiah, ex-Union home secretary.
In the run-up to the elections, analysts also point out that the political uncertainty will have an impact on finding the new capital. "The major issue here would be about who is accountable in case the government changes," said N Bhaskara Rao, chairman, Centre for Media Studies, a Delhi-based organization. "The government may make promises in terms of funding and other things over a period of time but when the government changes, then the state is forced to fall back on its revenues as it is unsure if the new government will agree to it," Rao added.
Some commentators said the Congress, which has a strong base in the state, might want to quickly begin the process of forming the new capital. "If Congress wants, they can build a capital in less than 10 years. This way they would also want to quell the rebellion in Andhra areas sooner," said Sudha Pai, professor at Centre for Political studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
br /> Source: http://tinyurl.com/mrbqrqt
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