Andhra Pradesh Secretariat starts functioning from interim government complex at Amaravati

The Andhra Pradesh Secretariat began functioning from the interim government complex that came up at Amaravati on Monday, the state's permanent capital city, with majority of the employees shifting there.

Aiming to run the administration from within Andhra Pradesh's geography, the state government had begun the process of shifting the Secretariat and other offices from its shared capital Hyderabad to Amaravati a few months ago. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for Amaravati, on the banks of river Krishna near Vijayawada, on the auspicious day of Vijaya Dasami last year.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had started functioning from Vijayawada several months ago. Though Hyderabad is the shared capital city for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for 10 years as per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, Naidu decided that the government's seat of power should be within the geography of the state.

Accordingly, the state government started constructing an interim government complex (temporary secretariat) at Velagapudi village near Vijayawada. While many departments and employees have already shifted to the temporary secretariat, several others moved from Hyderabad on Sunday and Monday.

The state government plans to keep only skeletal staff in Hyderabad to attend to court cases and to meet other purposes. The TDP government plans to develop a grand capital city of world class standards at Amaravati.