Former bureaucrat and head of the expert committee that suggested decentralization of administration, G N Rao, had ridiculed the media reports quoting his committee as advised against Visakhapatnam for the capital.
A section of the media had carried headlines this morning quoting the G N Rao committee recommendations stating that the committee did not favour Visakhapatnam as capital because of the cyclone threat to the city.
The media reports said that the committee had also cautioned the government against the frequent cyclones that cause devastating in this north coastal port city.
Reacting to these reports, G N Rao, a retired IAS officer, said that the media had committed an error in understanding the recommendations of the committee.
“The media report has error in understanding the core concept of the analysis,” he said.
The committee had only cautioned the law-makers and the administrators on the cyclones, to have the capital or administrative buildings on the seashore.
“The city is very big. There is much beyond the seashore. The northern part of the city is a good place for the government to have its administrative offices or setup,” G N Rao said.
He further said that the committee, consisting of experts in various fields, drawn from various places across the country, have favoured Visakhapatnam as the best option for the executive capital and wondered how the media misunderstood and misrepresented the facts.
The media, which highlighted the statements of Chandrababu Naidu ridiculing its recommendations and burning of the copies by the TDP leaders and farmers, had completely misled the people on Wednesday by misquoting the committee.
