The Chandrababu Naidu-led government in Andhra Pradesh has reportedly deferred its plan to acquire an additional 42,000 acres of land around Amaravati under the land pooling system for the second phase of capital city development, according to sections of the media.
The state cabinet, which convened on Wednesday under Naidu's leadership at the Secretariat, was expected to approve a proposal from the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) to pool around 25,000 acres of land in the first phase of the Amaravati 2.0 project.
However, post-meeting reports indicated that the proposal did not receive cabinet approval. Sources said the decision was deferred following intense deliberations.
Reportedly, it was Jana Sena Party chief and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan who raised objections to the proposed additional land acquisition. His colleague, Nadendla Manohar, also expressed reservations about the plan.
Pawan Kalyan is said to have told Naidu that while expansion of Amaravati may require more land in the future, there is no urgency to initiate acquisition now. He expressed concerns that moving forward with the plan could create negative public perception.
He also highlighted the public’s dissatisfaction over the lack of progress in Amaravati over the past decade, despite pooling over 35,000 acres in the name of capital development.
"Let us first focus on building Amaravati with the existing land. Only then should we consider acquiring more. Otherwise, people may assume there’s a scam behind the additional land pooling," he reportedly said.
Surprisingly, TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh agreed with the views of Pawan Kalyan and Manohar.
“We need more time to build a positive narrative,” Lokesh is said to have remarked.
Though Naidu tried to persuade his cabinet colleagues by warning that shelving the plan could send the wrong message — suggesting the government had yielded to opposition pressure — he eventually agreed to postpone the proposal.
As a result, the cabinet did not approve the fresh land pooling initiative. Instead, it was decided to refer the matter for further study to a group of ministers led by Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana. This group is currently overseeing land allotments in the Amaravati capital region.
According to the original plan, the government had identified 34,964 acres of land across 13 villages in three mandals outside the Amaravati Capital Region. Of this, only 5,207.42 acres is government land, while 26,369.5 acres is private (patta) land.
In the initial phase of Amaravati 2.0, the government planned to pool about 20,000 acres in six villages.
