Consider Central panel report on capital: YSRCP

YSR Congress has demanded the TDP Government to review its decision on the capital formation and consider the Sivaramakrishnan Report to avoid regional imbalances.

“We are not against the capital formation in any particular region but the way the State is going forward setting aside the report submitted by an expert like Sivaramakrishnan for political and commercial propositions is objectionable as 30,000 acres of fertile land is being taken away from the farmers,” party spokesperson Tammineni Seetaram said.
The Committee was appointed by the Centre after adopting the State Reorganisation Bill which clearly has given guidelines for the capital formation, without creating any regional imbalances but the TDP government has set-up a Committee headed by minister Narayana and has rushed through the process.
Though it is the prerogative of the Chief Minister to appoint any committee, the credentials of Narayana vis-à-vis Sivaramakrishnan are questionable. “It is not too late and the State should consider the Committee Report and try to make amends to its decision as farmers will be losing their fertile land while the arid regions of north coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema will further be pushed into backwardness.
There are reports that skyscrapers are being planned in the proposed capital and in that case where is the need for 30,000 acres of fertile land unless it is a commercial venture. While all suspense is going on, it is a pity that the State has not released the master plan of the capital city which further leads to apprehensions,” he said. Instead of addressing the immediate issues, the State is hovering on a long-term issue ignoring the State interests, he said.
Meanwhile in a separate press conference Party MLA, Y Vishweshwara Reddy said that the Chief Minister has shown scant respect to Handri Neeva project and should at least make amends by fulfilling his promise made on is birthday.
“It was Chandrababu Naidu, who has sanctioned a pittance for the project during his nine year term and reduced its capacity to 5.5 TMC while YSR has upgraded it to 40 TMC and expedited works on the project. The farmers are in distress as they are not getting loans from banks and are forced to go to moneylenders who charge high rate of interest.
Drought conditions are prevailing in the many mandals and the State is not addressing the issue,” he said