Andhra Pradesh chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has no mandate for the acquisition of additional 16,666 acres of land from farmers of Amaravati under land pooling system for the expansion of the capital city, says retired IPS officer and former intelligence chief A B Venkateshwar Rao.
In a latest interaction with a digital channel, ABV pulled up the Naidu government for going in for additional land pooling to build a world class capital city at Amaravati and stating that without expansion, Amaravati would remain a municipality.
“Why didn’t you tell the same to the people before the elections that Amaravati capital requires more land to become a world class city and otherwise, it will remain a municipality? Why haven’t you put it up for a public debate or discussed in the state assembly?” ABV asked Naidu.
He said just like YSR Congress party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had no mandate from the people to go in for three capitals plan, Naidu also has no mandate from the people for going in for second phase of Amaravati.
The former intelligence chief said it was not an issue that will be decided by the farmers of second phase of Amaravati and the chief minister.
“There is a tripartite agreement between the Amaravati farmers, APCRDA and the state government in the first phase. Even for second phase of expansion, the consent of the farmers of the first phase is necessary,” he argued.
He wondered why there is a need to build a greenfield international airport at Amaravati, when there is already an airport at Gannavaram about 30 km away.
“Just because Naidu has a fancy thought of having an international airport, he cannot acquire additional 5,000 acres for the same,” he said.
ABV also found fault with municipal administration minister P Narayana for proposing a sports city in 2,500 acres of land acquired in the second phase.
“In the first phase itself, there is a provision for sports city as part of nine theme cities. What happened to this proposal?” he asked.
