The Andhra Pradesh Government, which was collecting public donation and contribution through cash boxes in Government offices for building a new capital, on Sunday constituted an advisory committee of eminent personalities to suggest a development plan for the capital.
The advisory committee headed by State Minister for Urban Development M Narayana includes two industrialists-cum-MPs SY Choudhary and Galla Jaydev and four other industrialists Sanjay Reddy, vice chairman, the GVK Group, B Srinivas of AGMR Group, M Prabhakar Rao, Chairman, Nuzveedu Seeds, Ch Srinivasa Raju, Chairman, Peepul Capital and former MlA Mastan Rao.
Three more national and international consultants were also likely to be included in the committee.
The advisory committee was in addition to the committee constituted by the Central Government under the AP State Reorganization Act to identify and recommend a suitable location of the new capital. The committee has already visited different parts of the state to elicit the opinion of the cross sections of people.
But there were indications that Chandrababu Naidu Government's inclination was towards locating the capital between Vijayawada and Guntur.
The advisory committee will study different aspects of developing a capital including construction of key buildings like the State Assembly, State secretariat, Raj Bhavan and the State High Court.
Chief Minister Naidu has often spoken about developing the new capital on the lines of Singapore. M Narayana, who also heads well known Narayana Group of Education has said that he will visit Singapore to consult the Government officials on the design and plan of the new capital.
Meanwhile the State Government has put two sealed steel cash boxes in the State Secretariat and the Chief Minister's camp office at lake View Guest House to collect the contributions from the people.
The State Government employees and other sections have already announced their contributions. Sources said that the move to install the cash boxes by the State endowment department came as the visitors to the Chief Minister's office were leaving cash and other valuables as their contribution towards the capital development fund.
As keeping a track of the contributions had become a problem for the officials at CM's office, the Government decided to put up the sealed steel boxes known as "Hundi".
Normally such boxes are installed at temples to collect the donation and offerings of the devotees. The State Government employees have announced contributing two days' basic salary for building the new capital.