Amaravati farmers write to PM Modi, ask him to stop Jagan govt’s 3 capitals plan

Their letter came after chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said in a statement in the legislative assembly last week that his government was considering creating three capital cities.

Hundreds of farmers from Andhra Pradesh’s Amaravati region on Tuesday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in the YSR Congress party government’s decision to shift the administrative capital of the state to Visakhapatnam.

YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had said that his government was considering creating three capital cities – a legislative capital, an executive capital and a judicial capital as he advocated decentralised development of the state. (PTI File)

Their letter came after chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said in a statement in the legislative assembly last week that his government was considering creating three capital cities – a legislative capital, an executive capital and a judicial capital as he advocated decentralised development of the state.

The capital cities would represent three different regions – north coastal Andhra, central Andhra and Rayalaseema – in place of current capital Amaravati.

The farmers wrote a three-page letter to Modi requesting him to ensure that the capital continued in Amaravati and developmental activities should be taken up as per the original master plan approved by AP Capital Region Development Authority Act of 2014.

They sent the letter, along with the photocopies of their Aadhaar cards, in large numbers to the Prime Minster’s Office through Speed Post.

The farmers brought to the notice of the Prime Minister the circumstances that led to the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government led by N Chandrababu Naidu to choose Amaravati as the capital region.

They reminded the Prime Minister that he himself had laid the foundation stone for the commencement of capital city at Amaravati in October 2015.

“The government had acquired more than 34,000 acres of land from the farmers under land pooling for the capital city. The Centre had granted ₹1500 crore for the capital city works in Amaravati,” they said.

“Several structures like the secretariat, assembly, high court, residential quarters for ministers, MLAs and IAS officers have come up. Roads have been laid across the capital city,” they added.

However, they said the works had come to a halt after the YSR Congress party came to power.

“We were hoping that the new government would continue the capital works but it started taking decisions detrimental to our interests. The ministers were making statements against the capital at Amaravati and the government constituted a committee to review the location of the capital city,” they said.

The farmers said they would not be able to cultivate the lands even if the government wanted to give them back, as a lot of works had already been taken up.

“The government says it will develop the plots and allot them to us, but they would be of no value due to shifting of capital,” they said.