Andhra Pradesh Cabinet okays plan for Amaravati

Rajahmundry: The AP Cabinet on Wednesday approved the master plan for the Amaravati seed capital, and decided to develop the new city in a manner that would to make Telugus proud.

Speaking after Cabinet meeting, IT minister Palle Raghunatha Reddy said the state government, on the suggestion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would send officials to study the capitals of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and other world class cities, to finalise plans for Amaravati.

Mr Modi would lay the foundation stone for the construction of the seed capital in about 3,000 acres on October 22, Vijayadasami. He said the state government had invited the governments of  Singapore and Japan to take part in the ceremony. He said that the Cabinet had accepted the plans for the seed capital, capital city and capital region submitted by the Singapore government and decided to draw up detailed plans to implement them.

Speaking elsewhere, minister P. Narayana said the capital master plan would be placed in the public domain to take opinions, suggestions and feedback. The plan will be placed in a special website and a phone number will be provided for feedback. After collating the feedback, the Cabinet would approve the final master plan before starting construction.

Mr Raghunatha Reddy said the Capital Region Development Authority  would serve as the regulatory authority while the CCDMC would be the operational authority.

On other issues, the Cabinet decided to regularise encroached land in case they are unobjectionable, and to give 80 sq yards to each poor family free of cost in the state. The decision is applicable to assigned, vacant and temple land.

The government will appoint a Cabinet sub-committee to oversee the regularisation of land encroachments. He said those who deliberately encroach upon the government land would be dealt with severely.

Earlier, the Cabinet led by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu condoled the death of 27 devotees in a stampede at Pushkar ghat during the inauguration of the Godavari Pushkaralu and observed a two-minute silence.

This was the second meeting of the AP Cabinet outside Hyderabad, the first having been held in Vizag. All ministers were in attendance, except Deputy Chief Minister K.E. Krishnamurthy who is undergoing medical treatment.