Amaravati a pipe dream?

18 Sep 2017 12:35 PM

Three years after his loud and ostentatious pronunciations that he would create a world class city in Amaravati , Chandrababu is still light years away from realizing it. The site where he got Modi to lay a plaque at a cost of Rs 400 crore, is now a desolate place. The plaques look like epitaph.

The farmers, who believed Chandrababu and gave their lands, are utterly demoralized. It’s a double whammy for them. They lost their lands and gained nothing in return. Using Swiss challenge mode, Chandrababu has gifted away 34000 acres of prime agricultural land to companies from Singapore. The contracts are so loaded in favour of the foreign companies. Besides getting money, lands, facilities, the Singapore companies got 58 per cent share in the land, while the Government has just 42 per cent. All these agreements are arrived at private parleys with the companies in Singapore.

Significantly, several experts have opposed setting up of the capital at Amaravati. Sivaramakrishnan committee nd the Central Government have suggested that he chose another site for the capital. There were warnings that the area could be flooded when Kondaveeti Vagu is in spate. Even chief secretary IYR Krishna Rao has categorically said that construction of the capital is a pipe dream. Will the whole exercise for Amaravati turn into Bhramaravati (Illusion)?