A memorandum has been submitted to the Consul General of India in San Francisco, Sanjay Panda, by over hundred people with their roots in Andhra Pradesh who have travelled to San Francisco in order to show their concern over the proposal to establish a three-state capital in Andhra Pradesh. They have done so urging the President of India to intervene in the issue and help in the continuation of Amaravati being the capital of Andhra Pradesh.
The non resident Indians of California state that doing so would divide the people across the regional lines.
A legislation has been proposed by the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Jaganmohan Reddy which was seeking in creating three capitals for the state of Andhra Pradesh stating Amaravathi which is the current capital of the state to remain as the legislative capital, while Visakhapatnam would serve as executive capital and Kurnool would serve as the judicial capital.
Jayaram Komati who is a recent past Special Representative for North America by the Government of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, a community leader and Advisory committee member and former President of the Bay Area Telugu Association President (BATA), has met Consul General Panda on 20th of January and has shared his concern.
Ramesh Konda who is another attendee and a member of the advisory committee and also the former President of the Bay Area Telugu Association President (BATA) has shared his concern saying that he was surprised that the bill has already been introduced by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, as told by Ramesh Konda to indica.
He has also said that a considerable amount of due diligence and research has been spent by the the government prior to the present government and Amaravati has been finalized as the capital city. He mentioned that most of the developments have already been started and are in progress in Andhra Pradesh.
Konda has added saying that he finds no reason in changing the capital from being Amaravati and he has presented his concern over the people of the state who would end up in roaming through the three capital cities regarding any issue and also that the government officials will also have to roam the three capitals which would in turn consume a lot of public money and also causes delay in time due to long distance travel between the key government offices.
Amaravati has been declared as the capital of Andhra Pradesh in 2014 when a new State of Telangana was formed as Andhra Pradesh then had no capital city. The newly formed government has then declared Amaravati as it capital city while taking in to considerations the geographical location, making sure that there exists availability of the resources, the proximity to the airport as well as the road and railway networks.
This decision has been supported unanimously by all the parties in Andhra Pradesh and the foundation stone had been laid by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22 of October in the year 2015.
The memorandum that has been submitted to the Consul General of India is San Francisco, Sanjay Panda states that nearly 33000 acres of land has been peacefully acquired by the government of Andhra Pradesh in order to create a world- class city. The land that has been acquired was from farmers in 29 villages and the government has promised that the farmers will be getting plots that are well developed and will be situated in the capital city region. But Mr. Y. S. Jaganmogan Reddy who is the present chief minister of Andhra Pradesh is seeking in creating three capital cities for the state which would be unjustified and would have several consequences.
The idea has been called as the cruel political actions against the farmers who have sacrificed the lands that belonged to their ancestors and were the only source of income for the farmers.the farmers have sacrificed their ancestral lands just for the sake of the state capital and are going through severe emotional pain and have been protesting in the streets for the last two weeks.
It has also been said in the memorandum that several construction projects and massive infrastructure has been built in Amaravati which had costed around thousands of crores and there would be a huge waste of public funds if these projects would be stopped abruptly.
San Francisco Bay NRI believes that the concept of business continuity would be destroyed if the legislative policy of three capital cities is supported.
The memorandum has requested the intervention of the President for the continuation of Amaravati as the capital of Andhra Pradesh that would honor the sacrifices that has been made by the farmers and restore the confidence that is lost in the people regarding the very system of governance.
