Is Amaravati Really a People’s Capital?

This December, Andhra Pradesh government has come out with a status report on the three years of construction of the new capital city Amaravati. Though state chief minister N.Chandrababu Naidu had earlier announced that the city will be complete by December 2018, it doesn’t seem to be the case since the state government is yet to receive funds for the project from the central government and the World Bank. Designs for various buildings have been approved only recently after a prolonged delay.

Some of the key highlights mentioned in the status report released by the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority ( APCRDA - a state government department set up exclusively for Amaravati’s construction) include: 86 % of the 53748 acres land (lying between Vijayawada and Guntur cities alongside the river Krishna) designated for Amravati has been acquired under the land pooling system; National Green Tribunal has declined to set aside the environmental clearance issued to the Capital City; an interim government complex has been built; allotment of plots to farmers who had given up their lands for the capital city is complete,  and so on. However, as per various reports, there are a number of challenges ahead of this extravagant project. In fact, Amaravati has been in controversies since the project was first proposed.

Location of Amaravati

Amaravati is being constructed on the fertile lands of Krishna district which used to yield three crops over the year. It will be a city of skyscrapers built on the ‘Singapore model’ as claimed by Chief Minister Naidu. Environmentalists and activists have argued that the agricultural region, known as the “food bowl” of the state, is not suitable for the capital city and also that the region has a record of recurring floods in recent past. Sivaramakrishnan Committee, a central government-appointed committee, had proposed a decentralized capital but Chandrababu Naidu government went against the recommendation and chose this region for building the capital.

Land Pooling System

The Andhra Pradesh government has acquired the land for the capital city from farmers through the land pooling system keeping aside the Land Acquisition Act 2014. According to the land pooling system, the land owners would voluntarily give the land rights making a deal with the government. Although the state government claims to have collected 86% of total land under this system, there are reports that the officials have used police force, intimidation and coercion in a number of cases in order to forcefully acquire land from farmers.

Project funding

The state government has estimated that Rs 58,000 crore will be required for the construction and development of Amaravati. So far an amount of Rs 14,200 crore was sanctioned by HUDCO, World Bank and commercial banks. While the Government of India released a grant of Rs 1500 crore as per the provisions of AP Reorganization Act, the state government has used the money for the construction of temporary secretariat and governmental complexes. The design for the AP Assembly was approved recently which alone cost Rs 25 crore, as per reports.

It has been reported that a World Bank committee which inspected the capital region has recorded the testimonies of “project affected families” against the land pooling system which might impact the World Bank’s funding Amaravati project.

Corporate friendly Amaravati

The planning and design of Amaravati is a centralized one with all crucial sectors of the government located at a single place. With no agriculture practiced in the lands acquired by the government for the last two years, reportedly, thousands of agricultural labourers have lost their work. The state government has also imposed a law that prohibits gatherings of people in and around Amaravati preventing any form of dissent. Telugu Desam Party government had termed Amaravati city as ‘the people’s capital’ and led the construction project whereas so far Amaravati has remained only ‘corporate friendly’ giving away a number of construction related projects to the corporate companies.

True to his pro-corporate image, chief minister Naidu and his govt., backed by the similar Modi led govt. at the Centre, has turned the planning and construction of Amravati into a profitable exercise for corporate lobbies at the cost of common people.