Do you know what happened to the funds released by the centre for the construction of capital?
Diverted! or lavishly spent on hype creation? According sources in the government, centre had released Rs 1850 crore to the construction of the capital. As per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act,2014 centre should fund the construction of core capital- the Assembly, Secretariat, High Court, Raj Bhavan and CM residence.
With the hope that it would be more than enough for the construction of these buildings, the centre had released an amount of Rs 1850 crore. The amount had been released in two installments- first Rs 1500 crore and later Rs 350 crore. However, nothing has come up in Amaravati- which remains still a castle in the air.
Except preparation colorful plans there has been no progress on the ground, even more than a year after lands had been taken from the farmers. A master plan had been submitted by a Singapore Company, ( remember, not by the government of Singapore and it is not for free as being claimed by chief minister) and now another plan had come from Maki Associates of Japan. The state government has been using these picture of concepts of Amaravati as if they represented the real city.
Government sources said the central funds had been spent on spectacular foundation stone laying ceremony, compensation for farmers- who sacrificed their lands, one-time payment for gardens and trees, charges for Surbana for preparing the master plan and the travel expenses for visits of government representative to Singapore and other countries.
And a good amount of money was spent on the generation of global hype with the hope that investors would make a beeline to construct the world-class capital. But things are not moving at expected pace. As per the government estimation, an amount of Rs 15,000 crore is needed for the completion of the first phase of Amaravati project. State has represented the centre for Rs 4000 crore per year, so far there has been no positive response.
The sources said the state government has not been able to convince the center on the list of items on which the central funds had spent central funds as “capital ” expenditure.
