The previous Telugu Desam Party government in Andhra Pradesh headed by N Chandrababu Naidu had proposed to develop a grand capital city at Amaravati in a huge extent of 53,000 acres at a cost of Rs 1.09 lakh crore.
One does not know whether it could ever be possible to construct such a massive capital city even after 20 years, but it would have definitely pushed the state into deep debts causing huge burden on the tax payers, while the TDP leaders who bought lands in and around Amaravati would have become crorepathis.
What would YSR Congress party president and present chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy do, if he had such a huge amount of Rs 1.09 lakh crore?
Well, the chief minister explained in his own style.
“As and when I have that kind of amount of Rs 1.09 lakh crores, the priorities of our government would be different. We think in terms of providing water to the arid Rayalaseema region, which required Rs 60,000 crore. There is no water in Rayalaseema region despite the heavy rains and floods. We need Rs 16,000 cores for taking Polavaram water to north Andhra and for drinking water grid we need Rs Rs 40,000 crores.”
“For the Nadu-Nedu programme, we need Rs 29,000 cores for the schools and hospital put together and since our priorities are so different and aimed at welfare, we have to consider if spending Rs 1.09 lakh cores is necessary for the capital formation,” he pointed out.
In this backdrop, we have to see if the option of having multiple capitals would better, he said.