Amaravati yet to be notified; Minister pins blame on Chandrababu Naidu

Strange as it may sound, five years after it was declared as the capital of Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati city is yet to be formally notified.

As such, Amaravati still remains a cluster of 25 revenue villages even as dark clouds loom over the capital city's development.

Amaravati is just a place without any address, state Municipal Administration Minister Botcha Satyanarayana said.

For five years, the (previous) Chandrababu Naidu government did not even issue a gazette notification on Amaravati city, which only exposes its temporary nature, the Minister said.

On December 30, 2014, the then government notified an area of 7,068 sq km as the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region, including several existing towns and cities.

The capital city within the capital region was supposed to be spread over 122 sq km, covering 25 revenue villages.

On January 7, 2015, it had issued another notification adding some other civic bodies into the capital region and on September 22, 2015 further expanded the capital region to an area of 8,352.69 sq km, adding more villages and towns.

But the mandatory notification of Amaravati city has not be done yet.

Asked why it did not happen, the Minister shot back saying, "It is for Chandrababu Naidu to give an explanation why he failed to notify the capital city in five years. Naidu was never genuine about building the capital."

Officials in the AP Capital Region Development Authority here told PTI on Saturday that the main hitch was the non-registration of returnable plots under the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS), as the capital city notification is linked to this registration.

READ | NOW, Jagan Mohan Reddy Government Issues Notice To Chandrababu Naidu To Vacate Amravati Residence, Days After Demolition Of Praja Vedika

As many as 28,463 farmers parted with their land to an extent of 33,537 acres (in 25 villages) for building Amaravati.

Under the LPS, the farmers were to be given developed plots (in proportion to the land they had given) after creating necessary infrastructure like roads, drains, drinking water and electricity supply.

As per the agreement with farmers, this was supposed to be completed within three years (by mid-2018) but the Chandrababu Naidu government allegedly failed to do it.

We have created and allotted 64,709 plots for the farmers who gave away their land for the capital.

So far, only 39,221 plots have been registered by the farmers while another 297 are in the process, a top CRDA official said.

More than 40 per cent of the plots (25,488) are still pending registration. Unless these plots are registered in the farmers name, the LPS process would not be completed. Thus, the capital city notification is also stuck, the official added.

Several farmers, according to sources, were reluctant to register the returnable plots in their name due to non-development of basic infrastructure as promised.

Even when Chandrababu Naidu was running the government early this year, the capital development works had come to a halt, primarily due to lack of funds.

After the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government took over on May 30, it brought all works to a complete stop to probe the alleged irregularities (by the previous regime) in the name of capital development.

READ | Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy Orders Demolition Of 'Praja Vedika' Built By His Predecessor Chandrababu Naidu