VIJAYAWADA: Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy on Thursday termed his cabinet colleague Botcha Satyanarayana’s comments on Amaravati that it is costly and flood-prone as ‘passing remarks’ and clarified that the State government was looking into irregularities committed during the erstwhile TDP government’s tenure and not the relocation of capital. In a wide-ranging interview with TNIE, he also asserted there was prima facie evidence of corruption not only in the capital city construction but also power purchase agreements (PPAs) and Polavaram.
“It is the duty of the government to at least minimise the mistakes committed by the earlier government. The Chief Minister strongly feels we are custodians of public money and it is our duty to protect the interests of the people,” he said. To queries on the capital, he clarified, “The minister (Botcha) quoted the Sivaramakrishnan Committee report in view of the recent flooding on the banks of river Krishna. It is just a passing remark. The TDP is intentionally trying to overplay his normal response to downplay development works the government is taking up. We will go ahead with Amaravati.”
Elaborating on the alleged irregularities, he opined that though the State was in need of capital, the TDP government under Chandrababu Naidu went for the construction of a capital city. “Capital is different from a city. Their emphasis was on the city,” he explained.
According to him, the Naidu government misled the people on the location of the capital, tweaked the masterplan and let TDP leaders acquire land in Amaravati. Citing the example of a relative of Naidu’s brother-in-law Balakrishna, he said the man got 400-odd acres at one lakh per acre at Jaggaiahpet in the CRDA area. “Even without being in the CRDA, the value of the land was about Rs 20-30 lakhs, and it increased to Rs 50-60 lakhs once it became part of the CRDA. You increase the wealth of your relative by 50-60 times overnight. Isn’t this an irregularity?”
Wind power plants set up in 45 days. Is it possible?
The Finance Minister said PPAs were signed in a hurry over and above the renewable energy obligations. “The firms signed the PPAs in Feb 2017 with an undertaking that they will complete the plants before March. Is it possible for anybody to complete a wind power plant in 45 days? They established plants without APERC’s nod.”