Amaravati: The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy led government has introduced the Andhra Pradesh De-Centralization and development of all regions Bill 2020 in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Monday. This has led to law and order problems in the Amaravati region, as farmers continue to violently protest against it.
The AP cabinet had earlier in the day given their approval for this Bill.
The Bill seeks to adopt the South African Model of having three capitals instead of one. The government hopes to achieve uniform and even development across the state by declaring three districts as the capital.
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It will have Amaravati as the administrative capital, Kurnool as the Judicial capital and Vishakhapatnam as the executive capital.
A report by the Boston Consulting Group too had recommended the creation of three capitals. This proposal was earlier declared in the last Assembly session by the Chief Minister himself.
This proposal led to massive protests by the farmers from the Amaravati region who had donated their land towards the objective of building the state’s new capital.
The National Commission for Women has even issued notices to the Andhra Pradesh police over manhandling women who were protesting against the decision of the government. Former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu dared the Jagan Mohan Reddy to fight elections on the issue of a capital.
An earlier government report had raised the issue of Amaravati being situated on the seismic zone and prone to earthquakes and hence had advised the government not to undertake large scale construction activities in the region.
The Andhra Pradesh (Reorganization) Act, 2014 had divided the state of Andhra Pradesh into the states of Telengana and Andhra Pradesh. The legislation had also made the city of Hyderabad, the joint capital of the two states till 2024.