As Naidu's Amaravati residence faces demolition threat, owner Lingamaneni moves HC

The court has ordered that status quo must be maintained, and posted the case to Thursday for its next hearing.
As Naidu's Amaravati residence faces demolition threat, owner Lingamaneni moves HC
As Naidu's Amaravati residence faces demolition threat, owner Lingamaneni moves HC
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Lingamaneni Ramesh, a business tycoon who owns the riverfront residence where Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu is presently staying in Amaravati, moved the High Court on Wednesday, against a notice served by the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA).

Addressed to Lingamaneni Ramesh, the order issued on September 19 instructs that the owners remove the unauthorised construction within seven days of the issue of order, failing which it will be demolished by authorities.

Challenging the notice, Ramesh's counsel argued that the building was constructed after acquiring all due permission from the Undavalli gram panchayat. He said that the building had all necessary permissions that were required.

According to media reports, Justice K Vijaya Lakshmi, who heard the plea, then asked Advocate General S Sriram to spell out the rules under which CRDA officials served the notice. The state's counsel quoted the Andhra Pradesh River Conservancy Act and sought time till Thursday to submit all the details.

The court ordered that status quo should be maintained until the next hearing.

The allegation is that parts of the building where Naidu is staying, including the ground floor, first floor, swimming pool and dressing room, come within 100 metres of the High Tide Line of the Krishna rIver, and therefore are illegal as per the River Conservancy Act. 

In response to the petition, YSRCP MLA from Mangalagiri, Alla Ramakrishna Reddy, challenged Chandrababu Naidu and Lingamaneni Ramesh to an open debate on the construction.

“Where are the permissions for guest house? Where is the approval? What is the fee amount and when did they pay? Previously, they said that the guest house has been given to government in land pooling. Is it a lie?” Ramakrishna Reddy asked at a press conference on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Ramesh wrote a letter to Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and said that the news about possible demolition of the building had saddened and worried him. He maintained that he had no political or economic motives behind giving his “guest house” to the former CM for his residence.

"Me and and my family were mentally hurt because of certain cooked up stories of my bonhomie with Naidu as the reason for accommodating him in my house,” he said

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