Stop Singapore involvement in capital construction: Cong to CM

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) here on Wednesday asked the State government to stop the intervention and involvement of Singapore and other foreign countries in the capital city construction. Speaking to mediapersons, APCC president N Raghuveera Reddy, took strong exception to the government depending more on the foreign companies for building the new capital city.

He said that the Central government was bound to fund the total expenditure for the construction of the government buildings and provision of infrastructure to the capital city as per the Reorganisation Act. The State and the Central governments have couple of experienced and eligible departments to build a new city or take up massive constructions, he said and wondered why the government was going for the foreign companies.

He also asked the government to take the help of the private companies from the State or from the country to help the State in building Amaravati. He alleged that the government was indulging in high level and extreme corruption on the capital.He also took exception to the government’s decision to give 200 acres of land to the Singapore company at Rs 4 crore an acre. He wondered why the government had agreed to give such a huge extent of land to a foreign company when the lands were given by the local farmers.

He asked the government to make public all agreements signed with the Singapore government and Singapore companies.
The APCC chief also took strong exception to the statement of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu that he would take lands from the farmers by force for formation of roads for the new capital city. Recalling that the government had fixed a price of Rs 4 crore per acre to be sold to the Singapore companies, the Congress leader asked the government to pay the same price to the farmers and take their lands instead of threatening them using police force.

Referring to the auction of Sadavarti trust lands, Raghuveera demanded that the government cancel the auction and restore the lands to the Amaralingeswara Temple. He said that the temple has over 471 acres of land near Chennai of which the government had auctioned 80 acres at Rs 22 lakh per acre. He said that the officials of the Endowments Department have submitted reports to the government projecting Rs 50 lakh as registration value and Rs 6 crore as market value. He wondered why the government had sold the lands in auction at such a lowest price.

He further said that the government had issued a GO 425 on November 9, 2015, making amendments to the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Hindu Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Lease of Agriculture Lands Act 1987 and Rules of 2003 preventing ‘permanent alienation’ of lands belonging to the Hindu temples and Mutts. He wondered why the government had auctioned these lands instead of taking them back and restoring them to the temple. He alleged that the Chief Minister was marketing the ‘Amaravati’ capital title in the world and was selling the properties of the Amaralingeswar Temple at Amaravati, looting both people and temples.

Raghuveera Reddy said that the Congress would fight against the government on these issues and ensure that the government protected the rights of the people and assets of the State. City Congress president and former legislator Malladi Vishnu, APCC general secretary Lingamsetti Eswara Rao, State Youth Congress president Devineni Avinash and others were present.