Jagan silent on Amaravati; land pooled farmers in tears

The farmers of the villages that constitute the core of state capital of Andhra Pradesh are now a disheartened lot. The farmers that gave away 33,000 acres of fertile land on the banks of river Krishna in Guntur district face bleak future as the Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy refuses give a hint of what is going on his mind.

The recent round of inquiry by the state CID officers in the villages that have supported the construction of the capital about the alleged “insider trading” a nexus between the Nara Chandrababu Naidu government and the realtors is giving the farmers sleepless nights. “The officials are asking us details of those who purchased or sold land after Amaravati was declared,” a farmer seeking anonymity in the Mandadam village said.

“The police are asking us whether we have any relationship with TDP,” a farmer in Uddandarayapalem said. The villagers feel that the Jagan government has become desperate to prove insider trading in the land pooling scheme. “The idea is to prove that Naidu leaked the information benefitting TDP leaders,” Alapati Rajendra Prasad, former TDP legislator from Tenali said. He said that so far the government found details of 180 acres out of the 33,000 acres that have changed hands. “It clearly shows that the Jagan government has failed to prove that there was insider trade,” he said.

The state government is also mulling the possibility of shifting the secretariat to the Nagarjuna University campus. It is said that the employees are now complaining about the location of the present secretariat and Assembly as it is located 14 to 20 km away from both Vijayawada and Guntur. It is believed that the state government officials are searching the entire stretch between Tadepalli and Mangalagiri to take several high rise buildings on lease to set up government offices.

Sources say that a prominent member of the Jagan’s cabinet has submitted a report to the CM on the possibility of continuing the state capital in the present location. He said to have advised the government to limit the high rise secretariat and CMO to four to five floors and resume the work immediately as the residential buildings for the MLAs cabinet ministers and IAS officers are almost ready.