Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s announcement on creation of three capital cities for the state as part of decentralised administration has created a sort of panic atmosphere in the farmers of Amaravati who gave away 34,000 acres of land for the capital.
“Telugu Desam Party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu snatched away our land and gave us plots of one-fourth of our land size. Now, present chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is making even these plots useless by shifting capital from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam,” a farmer lamented.
The farmers are not convinced that Amaravati will continue to be legislative capital.
“Just continuing an assembly complex will not be of any use. Except for 40-50 days in a year in three spells, the complex will remain shut for the remaining period. So, it will not give any capital look to Amaravati,” another farmer said.
So, for all practical purposes, Amaravati will be a dead capital. Since there won’t be any growth, there won’t be any development in the area and the plot will have to remain barren. Even the real estate firms also will not evince any interest in putting in their money.
“We cannot cultivate the lands again, as the land has been converted into plots. And there is no value for the plots because there won’t be any development. Already, the land values have come down drastically and they will fall further. So, what are we supposed to do with these plots?” lamented a farmer from Krishnayapalem.
