No plan to shift Andhra Pradesh capital: Minister

AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh minister for municipal administration Botcha Satyanarayana on Friday said the state government has no plans to shift the capital city from Amaravati.
He was responding to a query raised by TDP members P Samanthakamani, G Deepak Reddy and Paruchuru Ashok Babu in the legislative council. In a written reply, the minister said there was no proposal to shift the capital from Amaravati.
It was Botcha, who had created confusion about the continuance of the capital city with his repeated statements indicating that Amaravati was not suitable for construction of big structures.
He had also said that the TDP government had spent close to ₹12000 per sft in Amaravati due to unsuitable soil. Adding fuel to the fire, finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy had said that construction of big structures in Amaravati was not their priority.
The future of capital city has been hanging in balance since Y S Jaganmohan Reddy took over the reins of the state government in May as all the ongoing projects in the capital city were stalled. The government decision to appoint a committee to suggest measures for development of all the 13 districts had added to the confusion.
At a recent Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) review meeting, the chief minister had directed the officials to commence the works on the projects which were completed up to 60 percent. He had also directed the officials to give priority to the completion of infrastructure in the farmers’ layouts. Sources said that the state government would complete all the required infrastructure without investing monry on unnecessary artificial requirements.
The cabinet had recently decided to annul purchase of assignment lands in the capital city area and announced giving land compensation to the original assignees.