Relocating the capital from Hyderabad to Amaravati could take as long as March of 2017 ac-cording to various IAS officers.

They say that even though the process of relocation will begin on June 27th, it could last as long as 10 months for it to complete. This is because the shifting of Heads of Departments (HoDs) will last till October and the all the departments themselves will shift till December or beyond.

The reason for such a staggered relocation its because Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu re-cently told senior IAS officers to keep their families in Hyderabad. He also asked the officers to keep travelling between Hyderabad and Amaravati for the near future. The travelling will take place according to administrative requirements. Chandrababu himself has been shuttling between the 2 capitals.

After his statement, various IAS officers have informed their staff not to shift to Amaravati immediately. According to an employee, only those staffers (and their families) who have al-ready obtained places to reside in will shift immediately. The rest will shift once the current academic year is completed. All signs point toward to a very staggered and delayed shifting process.

By getting a temporary secretariat up and running, the Chief Minister is trying to ease the fears of the farmers. The latter are concerned about the delay in construction of the new capital city. It serves the additional purpose of decreasing any future resistance from farmers as the Government plans to take a further 5,571 acres of land as part of the initial capital area.