While asserting that the government would take people’s aspirations into consideration on the development of the capital city before taking a final decision, Municipal Administration Minister Botcha Satyanarayana said Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy would not do injustice to the farmers who had parted with their land for the construction of Amaravati.
In fact, the Chief Minister wanted to extend more benefits to the farmers than what they were entitled to under the agreements signed by the previous government.
The government was not averse to talking to the farmers, Mr. Satyanarayana said, pointing out that he had allayed the apprehensions of farmers who met him earlier and complained that the annuity and pensions being paid to them were inadequate.
Responding to claims that the purported observations of IIT-Madras on the vulnerability of Amaravati to flooding were wrong, Mr. Satyanarayana said people could send emails to it (IIT-M) and get things clarified, and he would look into the issue as it kicked up a controversy.
Agriculture Minister K. Kanna Babu said a professor of IIT-M had, in fact, sent a communication to the chief engineer of the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) with regard to floods.
Speaking to mediapersons after attending the high-power committee (HPC) meeting chaired by Mr. Jagan at his camp office on Friday, Mr. Satyanarayana said members of the committee had apprised the Chief Minister of the manner in which the unified State of Andhra Pradesh had evolved since Independence, the developments after bifurcation, the regional imbalances that plagued it thereafter and the need to set them right.
HPC report today
The HPC would submit its report at the Cabinet meeting on Saturday (January 18). All issues would be discussed threadbare during the three-day Assembly session scheduled to commence on January 20.
On the possibility of Amaravati being flooded, Mr. Satyanarayana said the government had taken note of the reports of the expert committees (G.N. Rao and Boston Consulting Group).
The Minister took exception to Leader of the Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu’s statement that the legislature complex built during his regime was permanent and questioned if it were true, what prompted the former CM to lay the foundation for it elsewhere.
