Amaravati is a mythical capital which former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu dreamt of constructing at an enormous cost, by ignoring lessons of the past to not pour all resources into a single megacity, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy said on Monday.
“It was with a view to ensure balanced development of all regions in the State that the YSRCP government had introduced the concept of three capitals, and to prevent the capital city of Amaravati from sucking all the resources to the benefit of a few,” the Minister asserted.
“The Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of all Regions Repeal Bill, 2021 was intended to address all concerns raised by the stakeholders,” Mr. Rajendranath Reddy said.
The Minister alleged that the TDP government had not even tabled the Sivaramakrishnan Committee report in the Assembly, with Mr. Naidu instead constituting a panel comprising Ministers who only had business interests in Amaravati.
Both the Sivaramakrishnan and Srikrishna Committees had advised against concentrating wealth in a particular region. Erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh was the only State where all Central government institutions such as BHEL, ECIL and HAL were set up in the capital city of Hyderabad, whereas States like Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha had established such institutions of national importance in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities such as Tiruchirapalli (T.N.), Haridwar/Rishikesh (erstwhile Uttar Pradesh) and Koraput (Odisha), thereby giving a fillip to development of the backward regions in the respective States.
The Minister termed it ridiculous that Mr. Naidu had ambitious plans of building a capital city from scratch in a vast area extending over 7,500 sq km, whereas India’s financial capital of Mumbai was itself spread over 4,300 sq km. “Keeping these things in view, the YSRCP government had constituted expert committees, and based on their recommendations, had arrived at the conclusion that the State should have three capitals to cater to sub-regional aspirations,” Mr. Rajendranath Reddy said.
