Hyderabad: Its allocation to build a Raj Bhavan in Amaravati at a cost of Rs 212 crore, and a camp office for the CM on similar lines to follow, has exposed the Chandrababu Naidu government to charges of ‘misplaced priorities’. Many point out that the state is yet to determine a proper use for the opulent Rs 450-crore Rushikonda complex in Visakhapatnam, purportedly built to serve as Jagan Mohan Reddy’s camp office.
According to top officials, a similar complex on about 12 acres, on the scenic banks of the Krishna river, is also planned for the Andhra Pradesh CM. This will be opposite the Raj Bhavan in the Amaravati Government Complex. It is expected to cost around the same as the new Governor complex.
In a Government Order (GO) issued Tuesday, the TDP-led NDA government sanctioned Rs 212.22 crore towards the “construction of Governor’s Residence Complex”.
The orders from the Municipal Administration & Urban Development department are based on a resolution passed at the AP Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) meeting last week. The CRDA is chaired by CM Naidu.
Within days, the Naidu government sanctioned Rs 212 crore towards “the construction of Governor’s Residence Complex consisting Governor mansion, assembly durbar hall, Governor office, two guest houses, six officer quarters, 10 senior staff quarters, 12 junior staff quarters, 40 supporting staff quarters, barracks with 20 rooms and 144 barrack accommodation, boundary wall with four sentry posts, etc.,” as per the order, a copy of which was accessed by ThePrint.
“A Raj Bhavan can be modern, with all suitable amenities, and should be functional. What is the point of making it lavish, splurging Rs 212 crore?” questions Professor D.A.R. Subrahmanyam, chairman of Guntur-based Navyandhra Intellectual Forum.
“Is it going to be built with white marble stone, with features like golden commodes? If Rs 212 crore is for Governor complex, what will be the spend on CM’s office tomorrow? Some Rs 300 crore or more?” Subrahmanyam questions, pointing to “the hypocrisy of present regime which has been cornering former CM Jagan over the Rushikonda complex”.
At a time it is leading an agitation opposing the Naidu government move to set up 10 medical colleges, planned by Jagan, in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode, the YSRCP is also critical of the allocation stating it as TDP chief’s misplaced priorities.
“A well-appointed Raj Bhavan or CM camp office, even spending Rs 50-60 crore on each is understandable, but what is this lavishness, binging hundreds of crores, while taking loans from the World Bank, ADB, etc. This is what we call in Telugu appu chesi pappu koodu (a lavish feast/living on borrowed money),” says Malladi Vishnu, a YSRCP ex-MLA from Vijayawada.
“While limiting the expenditure on not so productive assets, such money could have been used to complete some of the under-construction medical colleges instead of giving them away to private players,” Malladi, who was AP Planning Board vice-chairman during Jagan’s tenure, told ThePrint.
“It is because of the overall Rs 1 lakh crore or above Amaravati capital project cost that our leader Jagan planned to make Vizag, a well-developed city, the executive capital,” the YSRCP leader said.
However, TDP leaders are defending the Rs 212 crore layout listing all the structures which will be built “to last a long time”.
“It is not just the governor’s residence, it has everything from durbar hall, office, guest houses, quarters for senior officials to supporting staff, and also barracks for the security personnel. The Governor and CM complexes, will be the place for many government event,s unlike the ‘pleasure palace’ at Rushikonda Jagan built for himself,” Deepak Reddy, a senior TDP leader and chairman of the Society for Employment Generation and Enterprise Development in Andhra Pradesh (SEEDAP), told ThePrint.
Senior officials say the Governor complex and the CMO-camp office to come up opposite it will be constructed to the plans of the Amaravati Master Plan, made by world-renowned architects Norman Foster and Hafeez Contractor.
“Since we are building a world class capital, the governor and CM residence complex, part of it, should suit the grandeur of the iconic assembly, secretariat and other buildings,” a top official told ThePrint. “Giving into the austerity debate, we cannot have a modest structure now to retrofit later when we are flush with funds, revenues,” he added.
Interestingly, some leaders within the TDP are also quietly critical of Naidu’s decision.
“The CM is the head of CRDA and the government and the allocation is his approved decision. So what can we say? Having criticised Jagan for the lavish Rushikonda complex, we should have been frugal in such projects,” a TDP leader told ThePrint.
“This fad of having everything on a humongous scale might not appeal to the public which is witness to where the money is coming from for Amaravati capital construction—loans from multilateral agencies and some largesse from the Centre,” he said.
“So, as a state struggling to improve its own revenues, we should be judicious in how we spend,” the leader said on condition of anonymity.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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