City: Amaravati

With inputs from G S Radhakrishna Within six months of assuming power, Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has undone many things started by his predecessor Chandrababu Naidu. The most contentious being Amaravati, Naidu’s dream capital. The last nail in the Amaravati coffin was hammered by the report of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) on January 3rd. Unmindful of the protests across the state, the Jagan government moved quickly to get the three-capital proposal endorsed by the state assembly, where he enjoys a brute majority. The assembly, on January 20th, passed the bill proposing creation of Amravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool…

Amaravati was promised as a dream come true – a utopia. However, the city, which was being developed as the new capital of Andhra Pradesh, now stares at a bleak future — after the pullout of major investors, as well as the lack of political will due to change of government in the state. Less than 150 days ago, in April 2019, just days before the simultaneous elections in Andhra Pradesh for state legislative assembly as well as Indian parliament, the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was announcing that Amaravati would be among the five best capitals of…

Gone are the stormy days of bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh and the bitter battles over the city of Hyderabad. Today, as Telangana is governed from its centre of power in Hyderabad, neighbouring Andhra waits eagerly for the completion of its planned seat of administration, Amaravati.   In the government’s own words, Amaravati, “the People's capital of Andhra Pradesh, is envisioned to be a city of world-class standards” and one that will provide “cutting-edge infrastructure, comfortable livelihood and immense prosperity”. However, most remarkable about this planned city, being developed from scratch, is the way it has been…