Amaravati will be the lone capital of Andhra Pradesh. This is what the Chandrababu Naidu government has told the Supreme Court through an affidavit. It, thus, ends the endless discussion over the three-capital plan envisaged by the previous YS Jagan Mohan Reddy regime.
The affidavit, submitted by state’s chief secretary Neerabh Kumar Prasad (IPS:1987:AP) to the Supreme Court on December 10, said: “The government will continue with, and complete construction of, a single capital city for the state of Andhra Pradesh located at Amaravati.” The affidavit was filed as the apex court was to hear a special leave petition, filed by the previous YSRCP government, challenging the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s March 3, 2022 order that upheld Amaravati as the only capital city of the state.
The Naidu government has urged the Supreme Court to dispose of this petition as it would comply with the High Court order. It, however, requested the top court for a modified schedule as the high court had given six months time to complete the development of Amaravati as the capital. The affidavit said the government would complete the works within three years.
As a matter of fact, Jagan Mohan Reddy had halted the construction works in Amaravati after coming to power in June 2019 and floated the three capital plan. It was the previous Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government which had proposed the development of Amravati as the lone Andhra capital.
According to the master plan, the Amaravati capital city will have 27 townships, each around 1,000 acres, with a planned population capacity of 100,000-150,000 each. Each township will be further divided into four neighbourhoods of 250 acres each.
