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Jagan govt to scrap capital master plan, merge Amaravati with new urban development authority
A bill to this effect is going to be introduced in the special assembly session to be convened on January 20.
In what can be considered the last nail in the coffin of Amaravati as Andhra Pradesh’s capital city, the YSR Congress party government is all set to scrap the master plan after its decision to move the administrative capital to Visakhapatnam.
There is also a proposal to drop the nomenclature “Amaravati” as a whole as the government is planning to constitute Vijaywada-Guntur-Tenali-Mangalagiri Urban Development Authority ((VGTMUDA) under the Metropolitan Region and Urban Development Authorities Act, 2016, and merge all areas falling under Amaravati region under this authority.
A bill to this effect is going to be introduced in the special assembly session to be convened on January 20. The bill seeks to repeal the existing Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) Act, 2014, which was aimed at creating the capital city of Amaravati.
As part of this bill, the government proposes to wind up the Amaravati Master Plan, prepared by Singapore government consultant Surbana Jurong.
“The master plan notified under APCRDA Act shall cease to have effect and the successor authority VGTMUDA shall, within 15 days of its constitution, would renotify a separate master plan with necessary modifications,” the draft bill to be introduced in the assembly said.
The original master plan prepared by Surbana Jurong had proposed to create a world-class city 10 times the size of Singapore with nine theme cities—Government City, Justice City, Finance City, Knowledge City, Electronics City, Health City, Sports City, Media City and Tourism City.
It had also proposed to develop four expressways and one inner ring road and 27 townships in an overall area of 50,000 acres.
The proposed bill seeks to withdraw all the government orders issued under APCRDA act and all notifications and rules would cease to exist. All the loans taken by APCRDA for the capital loan would be transferred to VGTMUDA, for which the state government would stand a guarantor.
With regard to bonds and financial instruments, the subscribers can redeem them if they want or the government can provide for consensual premature termination of these instruments.
All employees of APCRDA would be transferred to the new authority or to other local bodies in the state or to any other government department or agency.
The draft bill further states all the people who had surrendered their lands for Amaravati under Land Pooling Scheme would continue to have all the rights on the developed and reconstituted plots.
The beneficiaries of the scheme would be further entitled to annuity benefits for another three years beyond the 10-year period prescribed under the APCRDA act.
The bill seeks to allot an additional reconstituted residential plot of area 200 sq yards per acre surrendered on a pro-rata basis to the farmers.
While doing away with the Amaravati plan, the government would also introduce another bill “The AP Decentralisation and Equal Development of All Regions Bill, 2020,” seeking to decentralise the administration.
The bill seeks to establish various state organs, departments, instrumentalities at different centres in different zones for ensuring equal and closer participation of people of all regions.
As part of it, the state will be divided into three zones and in each zone, a board consisting of not more than nine members would be created for overseeing the development of the zone.
The government shall notify a seat of authority in each such zone, locate any state department/s or any of the instrumentalities of state in any of seat of authority of any zone and decide from where such department shall operate.
“Technically, the government shall not mention words like shifting of capital city, so as to avoid legal complications,” an official said on condition of anonymity.
