Botcha Satyanarayana hints at relooking at Amaravati as Andhra capital

Giving rise to multiple speculations on the fate of the capital city of Andhra Pradesh, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Minister Botcha Satyanarayana on Tuesday said that the State Government was reconsidering Amaravati as the State’s capital.

Speaking to reporters in Visakhapatnam, Botcha Satyanarayana said that Amaravati, being a flood-prone place, needed to be rethought as the choice for the capital of Andhra Pradesh. “A discussion should be held about the capital after the floods recede and normalcy is achieved. The Sivarama Krishnan committee had said that the region was not suitable for being made a capital, but the then TD government still selected it and went ahead. If construction should continue in capital region, then we have to come up with several check dams and other ideas to divert floodwater. In some areas, we are still pumping out floodwaters. I feel all these points should be discussed. Some people have made a lot of money from the capital region by collecting double the amounts in all works,” the YSRCP leader was quoted as saying. He further stated that the construction costs in Amaravati would be more as compared to that in other regions, resulting in a burden on the State Government’s exchequer.

Expressing an opinion on similar lines, YSRCP General Secretary, Vijay Sai Reddy, on Tuesday tweeted, “The floodwater has entered the low-lying areas in Amaravati. Tomorrow, the Centre will ask why such an unsafe place was chosen to be the capital. With no answers, allegations are being made that attempts have been made to flood Chandrababu Naidu’s house.”