AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh Government will constitute a high-power committee to study the GN Rao Committee Report and the Boston Consultancy Group (BCG) Report on the comprehensive development of the State and assured the farmers of the region that their problems would be addressed to.
Speaking to media after the Cabinet meeting here on Friday, Information Minister Perni Venkataramaiah (Nani) said Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy wanted decentralization of development and equal representation to all regions.
He is committed to the creation of the Legislative capital in Amaravati. Even the GN Rao Committee wants the government to continue the development activities that are taking place in the region.
The farmers of the region should come forward for discussions instead of taking up an agitation, the minister said.
While the GN Rao Committee has submitted its report, the BCG will be submitted its report in January first week and the High-Power Committee will study both the Reports and give its recommendations on which a decision will be taken, he said.
If at all the farmers of Amaravati region have to stage a dharna or an agitation, it should be done in front of former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu who had pooled in 33,000 acres of land in the region but had not even developed 1,000 acres of land.
Had Naidu completed the capital construction during his regime, this situation would not have arisen. While he claimed that Rs 1.09 lakh crore was needed for the project earlier, now he is saying that it is a self-financed project.
With 1.09 lakh cores on hand, the priorities could differ. We think of utilising such money on welfare sector for Aarogyasri, Fees Reimbursement, irrigation projects, Polavaram, water grid, housing and other such schemes. Should we sacrifice these schemes for a dream city was also discussed at length in the cabinet meeting, he said.
If Naidu really thought it to be a self-financed project, he could have raised Rs 1.09 lakh crores by selling the 33,000 acres of land.
The farmers should ask Naidu why he did not do that and had he done that they need not have taken up the agitation now, the minister said.
It is a fact that Chandrababu Naidu had deceived the farmers of Amaravati region that a world-class dream capital would be built here.
But not even a proper approach road was constructed for the temporary Assembly and the Secretariat by the previous regime, he said.
At least 10,000 employees of the secretariat had approached Chandrababu Naidu and asked him to build houses for them near the Secretariat with bank loans, which was not conceded by the former chief minister.
Why because Naidu did not have any plan to build a permanent capital here. All his henchmen had bought the lands in the capital region through insider trading through a world-class capital was projected and promised to the people of the state only to fool them.
The minister said not a single permanent structure has been built here. That too it was projected that roads were constructed at a cost of Rs 46 crores per kilometer. Similarly, tenders were called for a never-before financial foreclosure of Rs 50,000 crores for the construction work in the region.
People of the state and especially the farmers of the region were deceived in the name of the capital, the minister said.
He said Chandrababu Naidu had given priority to boost up the estimates to loot the government exchequer. He had even looted at the village level by forming Janmabhoomi committees. Had he really thought of a world-class capital, who was there to stop him, asked the minister.
The Sivaramakrishna Commission and the GN Rao Committee had all recommended the decentralization of power and development and hence Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has indicated the setting up of the executive capital in Visakhapatnam which has the infrastructure ready for the purpose, the minister said.
With this the people of backward Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts would also be benefited, he added.
A Peep Into CM Jagan’s Heart Of Gold!
