'Amaravati not safe to be capital': Andhra minister Botsa Satyanarayana

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh Minister Botsa Satyanarayana on Tuesday apparently stirred controversy by stating that Amaravati, which lies in a flood-prone area was not a safe place for capital city and much of the public's money had been wasted in developing it.

Citing a report by Siva Rama Krishna Committee, he said, "Siva Rama Krishna Committee had pointed out that Amaravati is not a safe place for being the capital city. Public money was misused by the previous TDP government. Majority of places occupied in Amaravati lies in flood-prone areas. The expenditure on the construction process in Amaravati is more compared to other regions."

Andhra Pradesh Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister, Satyanarayana, added, "Much of public money is wasted by the previous government in the development of Amaravati region. Our government has carried out proper plans as far as flood management is concerned. Most of the areas in the state capital region are facing a flood threat. Soon all matters will be discussed in the state cabinet."

BJP leader Lanka Dinakaran slammed the minister for his comments and said that he failed to understand whether the statement was a passing remark by the minister or a reflection of the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government's policy.

"We are unable to understand whether those were passing remarks by a minister or a policy matter as per the thinking of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had attended the inauguration function of Amaravati and so far Rs 1500 crore have been disbursed by the Union government for construction of Amaravati," said Dinakaran.

"Present government is creating a lot of confusion with respect to various projects. The Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government has put in doldrums the sacrifices made by many persons and the contribution of farmers who have 34 thousand acres of land for constructing the capital city," he added.

TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu alleged that the YSRCP government was conspiring to change the capital from Amaravati.

Naidu, who visited flood affected people in area of Krishna district lashed out at the state government and said that farmers had voluntarily given 33,000 acres for the capital. Of that the government has almost 8000 acres after allocations for infrastructure development. The government can get money necessary for capital construction even if it sells that surplus land, he said.

Chandrababu said that people should understand such conspiracies and TDP will keep on fighting such misdeeds of the YSRCP government.