VIJAYAWADA/VISAKHAPATNAM: All eyes are on the State Cabinet meeting to be chaired by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at 11 am on Friday where the GN Rao Committee report, which recommended location of executive capital in Visakhapatnam, legislative capital in Amaravati and judicial capital in Kurnool, will be approved.
The Cabinet meeting is set to be held amid surcharged atmosphere in the villages of capital region, where farmers have been staging protests for the past nine days against the proposal to shift the capital to Visakhapatnam from Amaravati.
Mandadam, the nearest village to the Secretariat, and through which the Chief Minister and his Cabinet ministers and officials have to pass, has been fortified with policemen. An uneasy calm is prevailing in the village with the police crackdown on protestors on Thursday night.
Well ahead of the Cabinet meeting, YSRC national general secretary and Rajya Sabha member V Vijayasai Reddy in Visakhapatnam was just short of clearing the air on Vizag as executive capital, when he said Jagan, who will be visiting the city for the first time on Saturday after the announcement of executive capital, will be accorded a rousing reception.
Giving broad hints that Visakhapatnam will be the executive capital, Vijayasai told media that a 24-km human chain will be formed from the airport to RK Beach to express gratitude to the Chief Minister.
Stating that though some people are trying to create hurdles to setting up of executive capital, he said they will be overcome and Visakhapatnam will be developed as a world-class city.
“Steps will be taken to develop infrastructure in the city to meet the future needs,” he said.
Jagan will visit Visakhapatnam on December 28 to inaugurate Visakha Utsav and lay foundation stones for projects worth about Rs 1,300 crore to be taken up by the Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the GVMC.
After approving the GN Rao Committee report and making a formal announcement on the location of the State capital, the YSRC government is likely to convene an all-party meeting or a special session of Assembly to apprise the Opposition parties of its decision and how it will go ahead with the proposal, official sources said.
Even as the government’s final call is awaited, villages in the capital region are witnessing protests by farmers who gave their lands for the capital city. When police asked farmers of Mandadam to remove the tents erected by them to stage protests, they faced resistance from the locals late Thursday night.
Police forcibly removed two tents, while the farmers are still continuing protests in two other tents. Police, who already issued notices to the residents of Mandadam to inform them about the movement of outsiders in the village, tried to issue fresh notices to the residents directing them not to stage any protests on Friday. But, the locals refused to acknowledge the notices.
The Secretariat at Velagapudi, the roads leading to it and the villages in the capital region have been fortified anticipating trouble in the wake of protests by farmers and Opposition parties against the shifting of capital to Visakhapatnam from Amaravati.
Ban orders imposed
Guntur Rural SP Ch Vijaya Rao said prohibitory orders under Section 144 and 30 Police Act were promulgated in Amaravati villages and notices were issued to people of some villages asking them not to allow outsiders into their villages.
Checkpoints, rope parties, patrolling parties, area domination parties, rooftop vigil and lifting parties are put in place and the precincts of Secretariat are being thoroughly checked by bomb disposal teams.
CCTVs, drones and body-worn cameras are being utilised and they are connected with Garuda Command Control Room to closely monitor the situation.
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp are also under the scanner. Social media posts, which are inflammatory in nature, will be identified and those who posted the comments will be identified and action will be taken against them.
Amaravati tense
Tension prevailed in Amaravati as the farmers’ protest against the move to shift the capital entered the ninth day.
A huge police force has been deployed to thwart any untoward incident in view of the Cabinet meet on Friday.
TDP leaders, including MP Kesineni Nani, were put under house arrest.