Days after he kicked up a storm by implying that the Andhra government’s developmental works were only for those who vote TDP, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has spoken out against people who ‘file complaints with the World Bank’ to allegedly derail the construction of capital city Amaravati.
On Sunday, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister attended a meeting to review works related to Amaravati. At the meeting, Chandrababu Naidu reportedly said, “Prepare a comprehensive action plan with measures which are to be initiated legally against the people working against the capital city. We shall not spare such forces.”
“Many have been trying to derail the Amaravati project for long. We should not allow such people to succeed,” the CM said, according to ToI.
The Chief Minister was referring to the loan request from his government to the World Bank, to the tune of USD 300 million, that is pending approval.
In May this year, the World Bank received a request for inspection of the area before approving the loan, from landowners in the area, who said their livelihood would be affected if the Amaravati project went through.
“The Requesters note that some of the proposed Project activities will be implemented on lands assembled under the LPS (Land Pooling Scheme). They claim that many landowners and farmers were intimidated and economically coerced to participate in the LPS. They state that farmers who have not consented to join the LPS will be forced to either pool their land under the LPS or their land will be acquired by the GoAP under the Land Acquisition Act. In their view, neither option provides adequate compensation to restore livelihoods or purchase comparable replacement land,” a World Bank notice said.
Sunday’s comments were a continuation of the Chandrababu Naidu government’s conspiracy theory, that the opposition parties were trying to sabotage the building of the capital. Senior Ministers in the government said last week that YSRCP leader Jaganmohan Reddy was sending thousands of ‘anonymous emails’ to the World Bank in the guise of farmers in the capital region.
“Since the day the capital region was allocated to Guntur and Krishna districts the opposition leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy is trying to sabotage government’s efforts by instigating farmers and filing cases in courts and the Green Tribunal,” irrigation minister D Umamaheswar Rao said last week, according to Deccan Herald.
According to ToI, the Chief Minister has also assured the World Bank that the farmers in the capital region had faith in the Amaravati project, and that the complaint was an attempt by the opposition to derail the work.