Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has remained silent with respect to the 3 Capital issue, for several months now. Despite the many agitations and protests being conducted by the farmers of Amaravati, Jagan has chosen not to respond to anyone.
The AP CM has now finally decided to respond on the issue, in his latest interview with Hindustan Times. Jagan said that it is not practical to develop Amaravati as a formidable capital, because there would be more losses than profits because of that. Furthermore, Jagan also said that the lands that farmers gave away were not fit for constructing high rise and heavy duty buildings.
Jagan also said that Chandrababu should have limited the capital in Amaravati to just 500 acres, which would have then made it possible for capital to be built there. Jagan had announced his idea of 3 Capitals much earlier than the onset of Coronavirus. However, he has now stated Coronavirus as the reason for not being able to construct a capital in Amaravati.
Speaking on the development of all prominent cities and capitals in the world, and in the country, Jagan said that all of these cities took tens and hundreds of years to come into their glory and become prominent. He said that Amaravati too would take a long time to grow into a formidable capital, and yet that wouldn’t guarantee profits for the state. He took the example of Omaha, a city in the US, where there are 23 Fortune 500 companies, and yet the population remains to be just a little over 4 lakh people.
Jagan also said that he took the advice of Sivaramakrishnan in the deciding the 3 Capitals for the state of Andhra Pradesh, and also added that the CRDA Repeal bill was Sivaramakrishnan’s idea. Jagan further questioned the importance of operating from one city, and said that it would make no difference if the government operated from 3 different cities.
With Jagan’s comments, it has been made clear that the Chief Minister has no intentions of reinstating Amaravati as the sole capital of Andhra Pradesh. The High Court’s Status Quo on the 3 Capital Bill is still in effect, and stands to be the only hope for the farmers of Amaravati. It is now to be seen what will happen.