Whose Capital, Amaravathi ? Written by I.Y.R.Krishna Rao

The author was the former Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh, worked as Sub Collector - Vijayawada, Collector and District Magistrate – Khammam and Nalgonda Districts, and Ex-Executive Officer, TTD.













This hand book is quite an informative write-up of how the new Capital city of newly formed Andhra Pradesh State in 2014 was decided upon and what were the causes of this flawed decision. The author, one of the senior most Indian Administrative Services passout from the 1979 batch takes the reader through the current location of the proposed capital city Amaravathi, its theoretical background and the process of how the lands to build this ambitious capital were pooled by way of coercion and caste affinity of the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Nara Chandrababu Naidu, ignoring the ill effects of locating the capital city in its present location on the banks of Krishna river, near Vijayawada.

The author has given a very clear picture of how some of the world renowned capital cities were built and also how some of the capital cities were built within India itself, keeping in view the mutual public consensus, development of backward areas and without any hidden agendas. The reader is also taken through the history of origin of Andhra Pradesh state after breaking away from the Madras Presidency owing to the relentless and unselfish motives of the then great leaders Potti Sriramulu, Tanguturi Prakasham Pantulu and Tenneti Viswanatham.

Eventually it is time and again proved by the author that then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Nara Chandrababu Naidu selected this place Amaravathi , as the new Capital of Andhra Pradesh only to benefit his castemen, ignoring the woes of thousands of farmers and other people from other parts of the State and thus remain as a great person in the sands of history. This kind of unscientific decision, ignoring the recommendations of the expert committee (Sivaramakrishnan committee) as per the author, would prove detrimental to the future generations to come and leave the city as a Ghost city, which would never take off in the years to come.

Pros : A very clear path right from the history books of Telugu people has been brought forward to explain the reasons as to how the present location of capital city of Andhra Pradesh should not be there in Amaravathi. Interesting historical facts coupled with live examples of how some capitals across the globe have been successes and failures are clearly elicited.

Cons: The author’s mind seems to have been set one sided only, in order to oppose the decision of the Chief Minister and appears to have a negative image on the community to which Chandrababu belongs to.

My rating is 3 out of 5