Sujana Chowdary, Rajya Sabha member from the BJP, on Tuesday urged Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to retain Amaravati as the capital of Andhra Pradesh, failing which, he warned, it would have very strong and drastic financial effect even on future generations.
In a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, Mr. Chowdary said the YSR Congress Party government should take note of the fact that the advisory committee constituted to suggest the location of the new capital chose Amaravati because of its central location and accessibility to all the 13 districts of the State, good road and rail connectivity, its proximity with the Gannavaram airport, availability of drinking water and its ancient historical ‘Satavahana dynasty’ link.
He reminded that all parties, TDP, YSRCP and the BJP, had unanimously approved the ‘Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority Act, 2014’, which came into force on December 30 of 2014. This was followed by the government drawing up a ‘master plan’ for development of Amaravati consisting of the Government City, Justice City, Finance City, Knowledge City, Electronic City, Health City, Sports City, Media City, and Tourism City.
Subsequently, said the BJP leader, Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the new capital city. He reminded that when Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy assumed the office, 62 projects at an estimated cost of ₹52,837 crore were under progress. Of them tenders were finalised for projects worth ₹42,170 crore.
Projects
But the YSRCP government brought all projects to a grinding halt without specifying any reason. Mr. Chowdary said the idea of shifting the capital from Amaravati at this stage defies all logic and can have far-reaching consequences, both legally and financially. Thus, the Chief Minister should reconsider his stand in the larger interests of the people in the State.
He said if the YSRCP government believed that insider trading took place to “corner 4,075 acres of land in Amaravati”, it was free to order an investigation and punish the guilty.
Pointing to the fact that a capital is the principal seat of administration and thus should include the Legislature, the Secretariat, the Raj Bhavan, the Judiciary and residential and other infrastructure facilities, he said Amaravati had functional buildings for all of them.
He said the TDP government had entered into agreements with the farmers, entrepreneurs and contractors and it would be legally binding on the successive governments.
Compensation burden
The BJP leader cautioned that stakeholders like who had purchased Amaravati bonds, contractors engaged in execution of projects, entrepreneurs and institutes who purchased lands in Amaravati could claim compensation which was likely to work out to a whopping ₹2 lakh crore. Thus, in the event of shifting the capital, the government may have to pay around ₹4 lakh crore towards compensation to various stakeholders, resulting in serious financial crisis in the State.
