Charges, counters mark five years of Amaravati stone-laying

VIJAYAWADA:   Even as the three-capital Bills are pending in the High Court, the demand for retaining Amaravati as the only capital of Andhra Pradesh once again took centre stage as Thursday marked the completion of five years since the foundation for a ‘greenfield mega metropolis’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While the farmers, who had contributed their lands for the capital development, took out a ‘Maha Padayatra’ against the trifurcation of the capital, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Botcha Satynarayana said that the government was committed to develop the 29 Amaravati villages as promised, besides upgrading Tadepalli and Mangalagiri municipalities into corporations.

Members of the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi Joint Action Committee (JAC) took out a massive rally from Guntur to Uddandarayunipalem, where the foundation for Amaravati was laid. They demanded that the YSRC government drop the three-capital plan. “Exactly five years ago, we were promised a people’s capital. We trusted the government, not a party, and had given our lands. Now, with no reason and based on allegations, the present government is in the process of backtracking on the promises given to us, constitutionally,” a farmer said.

Incidentally, a few organisations like Dalit Bahujan Parirakshana Samithi took out a rally in favour of the trifurcation of the capital. “We thought Amaravati was a people’s capital, but Naidu and his men moved court when the government wanted to allot lands to us. When the capital would only be developed for one community, how can it be people’s capital? So, we welcome the decision to develop other areas of the State,” the members of the samithi, who were stopped by the police from going to Uddandarayunipalem to avert possible untoward incidents, said. 

TDP chief and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, whose brainchild is Amaravati, claimed that the development of the capital city, which went on uninterrupted and on full swing for 3.5 years since 2015, was abruptly stalled by the YSRC government over baseless allegations. “The destruction of a dream, conceived and was being implemented to put the State back on development track after suffering bifurcation, as a means of vengeance against one person or a political party is a Tughlaq act,” Naidu said.

Meanwhile, Botcha alleged that Naidu and his ‘benamis’ used Amaravati as a ruse to ‘loot’ public money. “What development did Naidu do at all? He couldn’t even develop the flood bank (Karakatta) road. He claimed development was in full swing for 3.5 years after 2015. Did he forget that his own MLA had brought cattle to graze the bushes that grew at the foundation site as no development was done? If at least 50 per cent of works were done and buildings were completed, we can understand the accusations. But, not even five per cent of the work  was done.

Of the Rs 1.09 lakh crore plans made, only Rs 5,600 crore was spent,” he said.  “He used the name of Amaravati. He didn’t even develop the Amareswara Swamy temple there. Neither did he develop the temple town. He just used the name for the capital and resorted to insider trading. They used Amaravati to raise loans and then loot that money. We provided the details of the same including all transactions preliminary confirming insider trading. But, they moved court and used influence to get favourable orders,” he alleged. He asked whether the TDP chief has the guts to face a CBI probe and come out clean.

Appeal to farmers  
Botcha appealed to the farmers not to fall prey to Naidu’s political game and said that his government would develop the 29 villages in Amaravati. “We shall soon resume the works as promised to the farmers. The plots will be developed. Amaravati will be our legislative capital. All the plans for its development have been finalised. Mangalagiri and Tadepalli will also be developed better than Vijayawada and Guntur, as promised during the elections. They will soon be upgraded into corporations,” he added.