Shifting sorrows

Despite the hullabaloo over the shifting of govt. offices to Medha IT Tower in Vijayawada post-bifurcation, the proposal hits many roadblocks

The proposal to shift some of the government offices to the Medha IT Towers here a couple of months ago hasn’t seen light of the day, even as the elected representatives made a hullabaloo over it.

The people expected that the government was serious about shifting the offices to Medha IT Tower following Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s visit to the premises in September. But, the government, sources say, hasn’t taken a serious note of the proposals made by the local representatives yet. Lack of will, reluctance of bureaucrats and government employees to relocate to the city is said to be major bottleneck. De-notifying the IT special economic zone, where Medha IT Towers also entail several complications.

“The Chief Minister is keen on shifting the offices immediately. But, the officials prefer to stay put in comfort zone,” said an elected representative, who didn’t want to be named. The officials don’t want to shift to Vijayawada. They are coming up with umpteen pleas such as academic year and residential accommodation. In a way government is succumbing to their pressures. The proposal may not take a shape before June-July 2015, he added.

The government also did not ask the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APICC) to take necessary steps to de-notify the ITSEZ. Though the Chief Minister and Ministers paid several visits to inspect the space available at the Medha, there are no instructions or moves in that direction, APIIC sources say.

Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, however, points out that the government has constituted a Committee to decide which departments should be relocated to the city. It would take “some time” for the Committee to come up with the report. The government has to take many factors into consideration before shifting the offices, he explains.

The APIIC and L&T Info City Ltd have developed L&T Hitec City Ltd the IT park. About Rs. 70 crore were spent on land construction for the IT Park.