Has YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy decided to shift the state capital from Amaravati to somewhere else?
The answer is yes, if one were to read between the lines of municipal administration minister Botsa Satyanarayana at a press conference in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.
While making it clear that Amaravati is not a suitable place for the capital, he said the state government would soon disclose its stand on capital.
Referring to the recent floods to Krishna river, Botsa said the present capital region of Amaravati is vulnerable to floods.
“We have found that it is going to be a costly affair to construct flyovers, buildings and other huge structures. A lot of public money is being wasted there,” he said.
Since it is a flood prone area, one has to construct check dams and canals to drain out flood water.
“We need to create additional channels to deal with water,” he said.
The minister said there was a serious discussion within the government on the capital city. “We shall soon come out with a statement on the capital city,” he said.
Botsa’s statement lent credence to the suspicions that the Jagan government is not keen on continuing the capital at Amaravati right from the beginning.
While he ordered probe into the alleged corruption in land pooling and the contracts, his government allocated mere Rs 500 crore for the capital.
