PerformanceGurus Staff
Amaravati, Oct 23
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]A[/dropcap]mid joys and celebration and Dussehra revelery, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Andhra’s capital city Amaravati ( named after the Amarvati, named after the capital of second century AD Satavahana kingdom in the same region) at Uddandarayunipalem village on the banks of river Krishna in Guntur district on Thursday and unleashed a vicious attack on the Congress, holding it responsible for division of Andhra Pradesh.
“They are spreading poison. They are trying to spread illusion. From Amaravati, this cultural centre, I would like to assure the people of Andhra that the Centre would implement whatever is said in the (Andhra Pradesh) Re-organisation Act in letter and spirit within the sipulated timeframe,” Modi said, addressing a masssive crowd.
“For some people’s political selfishness, Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated in haste without properly carrying out the process of proper consultation. I can even today feel the pain of those innocents who lost their lives and suffered loss to property in this episode.
“The British left behind such things due to which there is tension in the country even today. The previous government did something that due to which everyday there is tension created,” he said.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]I[/dropcap]ncidentally, the BJP has strongly backed the division of Andhra Pradesh in parliament. With Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu standing by his side near the “Yagyasala” or the sacred fire and the vedic pundits chanting the hymns, the Prime Minister participated in the rituals of Poorna Ahooti as mark of laying the foundation stone. Under the blanket of heavy security involving more than 10000 policemen, the impressive and colorful ceremony was held at Uddandarayunipalem village of Tollur mandal in the middle of Viajyawada and Guntur.
The Prime Minister also handed over the soil from the “temple of democracy” the Parliament in New Delhi and water form Yamuna, one of the biggest rivers of northern India as his gift to the Chief Minister to be mingled with the samples of soils and waters from all the sacred places across India.
The Prime Minister also unveiled the plaque of the foundation stone of Amaravati in the presence of Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of neighboring Telugu state of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao and the governor of AP and Telangana ESL Narasimhan, Tamil Nadu governor K Rosaiah and several union ministers.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]G[/dropcap]athering of the dignitaries included ministers from Singapore and Japan, the two countries involved with the planning of the new capital city, ambassadors and representatives of 14 other countries, prominent industrialists and businessmen, judges and other senior officials. Later addressing the mammoth gathering of the people, who had converged from all parts of the state Modi assured the newly created state of Andhra Pradesh full cooperation of the Union government and said that all the promises made in the state reorganization Act will be fulfilled.
In his half an hour long address, translated in Telugu by union minister for urban development M Venkaiah Naidu, Modi said, “over the years urbanization in the country was seen as a problem. There is a need to look at it as an opportunity not as a problem”.
Showering praises on Chandrababu Naidu for his dynamic leadership, initiative in putting together a comprehensive plan for the development of a new capital, Modi said, “I salute him from the bottom of my heart for the rapid pace in which Chandrababuji has put everything together”.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]R[/dropcap]eferring to the various pending promises of help to the truncated Andhra Pradesh, Modi said, “whatever has been discussed between Narendra Modi and Chandrababu Naidu will be implemented in toto”, he said. However many were disappointed that their expectations of Prime Minister announcing the much awaited special package for AP was not fulfilled.
With Telangana Chief Minister KCR intently listening, Modi said, soul of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana was the same- Telugu language. “Andhra Pradesh and Telangana should be complementary to each other”, he said.
In an extraordinary gesture, Naidu had personally called on KCR to invite him to the foundation ceremony and the later had responded positively and was cynosure of all eyes at today’s event.
Referring to the initiative of his government to develop 100 smart cities, Modi said that Amarvati will be a bench mark for the development of new cities. “Amaravati is truly people’s capital”.
Lauding the people of Andhra Pradesh who collected the soil and water from all the 16000 villages across the state Modi said that they had tried their best to make it people’s capital.
“When I handed over soil and water from Parliament to Chandrababu Naidu he said it had emotional touch. It is like the country’s capital had reached Amarvati”.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]A[/dropcap]ccording to the master plan prepared by the experts from Singapore Amarvati will be three tier city with the seed capital housing the key government buildings will be the seed capital area to be built at a cost of Rs.20000 crore ($3 billion). The site where today’s foundation stone was laid belongs to the proposed Legislative Assembly building. The second tier will be the capital city and the third will around it will be capital region. The entire project was estimated to cost more than Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 10000 billion).
In a positive thrust Chandrababu Naidu said that while the bifurcation of the state was unfortunate, his government will endeavor to take everybody along. “We will go forward in solving people’s problems taking the help of Telangana Chief Minister KCR”, he said.
He also thanked the farmers who gave 33000 acres of land for the capital, and also Singapore and Japan governments for their help in designing the capital plans. “Amaravati will have nine different cities”, he said.
Naidu urged the Prime Minister for holding hands of Andhra Pradesh as the state lacked a revenue generating capital like Hyderabad, Chennai or Bengaluru. “Telugu people will never forget the assurance given by Mr Narendra Modi during the difficult times”, he said.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, whose decade long movement led to the carving out of Telangana state, congratulated the people of Andhra Pradesh on the birth of the new capital and assured all help from Telangana government for the development of Amarvati city.
Note:
1. The conversion rate used in this article is 1 US Dollar = 65.08 Rupees.
2. Text in Bold points to additional data on the topic.
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