Amaravati yet to be notified; Minister pins blame on Naidu

Strange as it may sound, five years after it was declared as the capital of Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati city is yet to be formally notified.

As such, Amaravati still remains a cluster of 25 revenue villages even as dark clouds loom over the capital citys development.

Amaravati is just a place without any address, state Municipal Administration Minister Botcha Satyanarayana said.

For five years, the (previous) Chandrababu Naidu government did not even issue a gazette notification on Amaravati city, which only exposes its temporary nature, the Minister said.

On December 30, 2014, the then government notified an area of 7,068 sq km as the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region, including several existing towns and cities.

The capital city within the capital region was supposed to be spread over 122 sq km, covering 25 revenue villages.

On January 7, 2015, it had issued another notification adding some other civic bodies into the capital region and on September 22, 2015 further expanded the capital region to an area of 8,352.69 sq km, adding more villages and towns.

But the mandatory notification of Amaravati city has not be done yet.

Asked why it did not happen, the Minister shot back saying, Its for Chandrababu Naidu to give an explanation why he failed to notify the capital city in five years. Naidu was never genuine about building the capital."