Spread government departments across state, BJP tells TDP

VIJAYAWADA: In a move seemingly to embarrass its ally, the BJP state committee on Wednesday cautioned the TDP not to concentrate the administration at one place. Strongly opposing the TDP government's move to build all government wings in the capital city, state BJP president and Visakhapatnam MP K Hari Babu warned that it would be another "historical blunder" by rulers.Speaking to media here, Hari Babu said there was no need to locate all state-level offices in the capital city.
However, Hari Babu evaded a direct reply to the state government's proposal to pool 30,000 acres of green fields for the capital city."The proposal is yet to be notified and we will react once the notification for land pooling or land acquisition is issued," said Hari Babu. He, however, said it was not wise to put all eggs in one basket. He said BJP had been advising against location of all government facilities at one place, as was done earlier in the case of Hyderabad. In fact, BJP has been advocating division of AP into 25 districts, said Hari Babu. "Why should endowments commissioner sit in Vijayawada or Guntur? Can't he run temple administration by sitting in Tirupati or Srisailam?" he asked.
He said several departments could function from different parts of the state as all the heads of the department do not interact with the chief minister or ministers on a day-to-day basis. He said the ports director could sit in Kakinada or Visakhapatnam and the fisheries director could run his administration by sitting in any of the coastal districts.
In fact, such an arrangement would not only help decentralization of government wings but also decentralize development, he said. He clarified that the BJP was not inviting leaders from any party by offering positions either in the party or in the government and those joining the BJP were doing so to serve the party.