The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet met on Monday morning to discuss various matters related to the decentralisation of the capital from Amaravati, among other issues. The Cabinet also approved plans to repeal the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Act, 2014.
With this, the YSRCP government is going ahead with its plans to decentralise the capital - setting up a legislative capital in Amaravati, an executive one in Visakhapatnam and a judicial capital in Kurnool.
Meanwhile, the cabinet also decided that the Rules, notifications and Government Orders issued under the CRDA Act, which sought to develop around 33,000 acres in the ‘capital region of Amaravati’, would cease to exist. The areas covered under the CRDA would be vested with an Urban Development Authority, that could oversee Vijayawada, Guntur, Tenali and Mangalagiri.
The government is also expected to announce a package to compensate the farmers who may suffer losses because of this move. The Cabinet is also believed to have discussed various measures to appease the farmers from the capital region who are opposed to shifting the capital, by extending the period of annual lease for the pooled land from ten years, as promised by the previous government, to fifteen years.
A rise in the pension amount for landless farmers of the capital region was also reportedly discussed, with the monthly pension amount expected to increase from Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000.
It was the TDP, led by former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, which had in 2015 declared Amaravati, a region comprising 29 villages in Guntur district, as the state’s capital.
The CRDA came into existence that same year, and was formed to acquire and pool land for the capital project. The CRDA was given the authority to acquire, sell, transfer or grant license for the purpose of development of the land, in a bid to expedite the capital city project.
The government is also expected to handover the inquiry of ‘insider trading’ allegations against the previous TDP government to the Lokayukta.
The YSRCP has alleged that the TDP resorted to insider trading, by manipulation of boundaries of the CRDA to bring in the areas where 'benamis' of the party had bought land. The YSRCP has also alleged that the boundaries of the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS) area were redesigned in such a way, that the lands of the leaders of the TDP or their relatives fell right adjacent to the boundary, thereby making them exempt from the scheme, but still allowing them to avail the benefits of hiked land prices.
The Cabinet is also believed to have discussed the setting up of an Urban Development Authority at CM Jagan’s constituency in Pulivendula.