Jagan Firm On Three Capitals

Despite there is opposition from political parties and protests from the select residents of the capital villages and cases pending in the High Court, it appears that chief minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy is firm on having his three capitals becoming a reality.

He appears to have made up his mind to go ahead on his plans if one goes by his firm statements given at a meeting in Vijayawada, the other day are to be any indication.

It was for the first time that Jaganmohan Reddy spoke on the three capitals issue, after his statements in the Assembly.

He was firm when he made his mind clear in the presence of the elite of Vijayawada and Guntur cities, who welcomed him and his strategy.

The strategy that he protected was that Visakhapatnam, which is a developed city in the State, would take just a decade or so to compete with Bengaluru, Chennia and Hyderabad, in providing employment to the youth with a small intervention of the government, in terms of in infrastructure provision and invitation to the IT companies.

The existing city with the basic infrastructure would compete with other cities around rather than going for a non-existent Amaravati and waiting for 50 years, is what he argued to convince the gathering, including chairman of south India’s leading media house, The Hindu, N Ram.

The veteran and renowned journalist was seen nodding his head when Jaganmohan Reddy was making his mind clear to the gathering.

He said he was concerned for the future generations to look for jobs and it would be possible only if a developed city is promoted rather than a non-existent city which doesn’t even have a double lane road to reach.

While the TDP leaders and a section of media talks about the locational advantage of Amaravati, Jagan brushed it aside and said Amaravati is neither close to Vijayawada nor Guntur. There is nothing for the people to stay. The visitors should come either to Vijayawada or Guntur by evening looking for shelter, he said.

However, he said it would take Rs 1.09 lakh crore for the government to develop infrastructure like roads, drains, electricity and water, leave alone the facilities like hotels and others in Amaravati.

The previous government, which had planned Amaravati, had spent just Rs 5,677 crore and the present government too would not be able to spend more than that amount given the present financial position.

The State is going for external borrowings at 10.25 per cent rate of interest and this is in addition to the Rs 2.25 lakh crore debt on the state government.

Given these financial explanation, the chief minister was firm on reiterating his decision to shift the capital to Visakhapatnam leaving Assembly for Amaravati.