When Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid foundation of Andhra Pradesh’s new capital at the sleepy Uddandarayapalem village 40 km from here on this day last year, he had famously brought with him soil and water from the Parliament complex and the Yamuna river.
The contents of the parcel he brought were emptied into a mound of soil and water from 16,000 villages across Andhra Pradesh in what was widely projected as a symbolic gesture of involving all regions and all sections of people in building the capital.
PM’s ‘special parcel’
It was a different matter that when the Prime Minister failed to announce the much-awaited the Special Category Status and financial package at the function, his “special parcel” from New Delhi came in for derisive comments like “what he gave AP was mud and water and nothing else”.
A year has gone by, the mound of mud and water and the ‘Amaravati Pavilion’, a walk through showcasing evolution of a city encompassing nine cities within it, stand as stark reminders, of so many things that were promised as part of dream city project but could not be delivered. But for these symbols and the Interim Government Complex that was quite surprisingly built in a record five month-time, there is not much of capital project activity seen in the vast capital region.
Passionate project
For some reason, Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu seems to be taking a longer than the desired time in deciding on the design of his world-class city. He is indeed passionate about his project as it unfolds and has the vision of how it should look like finally with blue of the Krishna river and the green of the pastoral banks forming the dominating theme but appears caught in too many things.
Perhaps having himself gone and seen some and making his core team visit almost all the capital cities, he is shade confused of what elements to borrow or make it a hybrid of all. The Master Plan has been readied by Singapore Consortium but it remains where it was a few months ago. A jury comprising some of the finest architects has picked a design for the city but the Government appears to have developed second thoughts, calling it a tentative one. The Swiss Challenge for selecting the master developer is now challenged in the court.
Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day, so might go the Government’s defence, but the delay of a year after accomplishing the most challenging task of convincing the farmers to part with whole of 33,000 acres through unprecedented Land Pooling Scheme, looks a bit odd. More so when the farmers started getting back the developed plots too. It looks strange as Mr. Naidu has this well- cultivated image of a fairly fast decision-maker. The other argument put forward by the Government is the way the Opposition is dragging every issue pertaining to the capital to Courts. But the counter argument is that the Government should have anticipated such obstacles and should have had a Plan B on hand.
Yes problems are aplenty. Notwithstanding Mr. Naidu’s several visits to New Delhi, the Central Government appears stingy as ever promising just about Rs. 2,500 crores which it contends is as per the AP Reorganisation Act and is enough for the construction of administrative buildings including the Assembly, the Secretariat and the High Court. If this is the Centre’s promised handholding, it could take lot many years for the capital to come up.
On its part, the State Government seems confident of getting huge funds required for developing the large extent of land pooled for the capital city. Yet the vigorous efforts it has been making to tap multilateral agencies have not translated into concrete flow of funds so far. No wonder, the Opposition YSRCP cries foul saying the Telugu Desam Government has failed to cross the major milestones it has lined up by itself in the capital building process. The Government is bound to get more such flak in the coming months, unless it pulls up its socks, finalises designs quickly and takes the capital building process on a fast track mode.
