The most happening place in Andhra Pradesh now is Amaravati, the green-field capital city, which remained like a ghost city till a few days ago, but sprang to life quite unexpectedly with the formation of the new NDA government in the State.

“In the last three days, shrubs have been cleared on the main roads and barbed wires have been removed in the capital region,” B Ganesh, a farmer from Velagapudi in Amaravati, told businessline.

The capital project was shelved by the previous YSRCP government as the then chief minister had decided to shift the executive capital to Visakhapatnam and judicial establishment to Kurnool reducing Amaravati to be the legislative capital.

The NDA front of TDP-Jana Sena and BJP won the mandate, and retaining capital at Amaravati was one of the promises in the manifesto. 

Swinging into action

The Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA), which was dormant till recently, swung to action even before the swearing-in on Wednesday by deploying nearly 100 precleans to bring the capital region back in shape. The main roads have been cleared of blockades, erected by the previous government, and street-lights have been arranged to illuminate the roads.

The newly-appointed chief secretary, along with CRDA Commissioner Vivek Yadav, visited the region and surveyed the status. “The extent of damage to the roads, structures and other stalled infrastructure will be assessed by a specialist team after relevant directions from the new Chief Minister,’‘ said a senior official.

Home-coming

Many skilled workers who migrated to Telangana from the region for want of work are now planning to return to the State. “In 2018, when Amaravati works were in progress, I had a team of 30 electricians and vendors who migrated to Telangana after the work was halted by Jagan Reddy. They are coming back now to find work here,’‘ Nagul Meera, who runs Bhasha Electrical Works in Raipudi Village, said.

“Life will change for the better for us who lost everything after the shift of capital from here by the previous government, which converted us into workers from farmers,’‘ B Ganesh, a farmer from Mandadam, and one of the many from 29 villages who gave land through land-pooling for the capital. 

Real estate prices

According to Ramesh, a realtor in the capital region, land prices have more than doubled from ₹30,000 per square yard immediately after declaration of the election results on June 4. Many advertisement hoardings, announcing commercial and residential projects, have come up.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who originally conceived the idea of Amaravati and began works in his government during 2014-19, is likely to put in place an action plan, including revamping the CRDA and suitably empowering it to complete the construction of the capital on a priority basis.

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