Vijayawada-Guntur belt was under a security blanket as Andhra Pradesh administration has pulled out all the stops to make foolproof security arrangements for the foundation stone laying ceremony of the new capital Amaravati on October 22.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be laying the foundation stone of the new Capital city, named after the seat of power of Satavahana dynasty of 2nd Century AD.
More than 12,000 police personnel drawn from all the 13 districts will guard the venue of the ceremony to be attended by many Union Ministers as well as the entire State Cabinets and delegates from many countries. “The security arrangements will be unprecedented to ensure smooth conduct of the historic occasion,” said JV Ramudu, State Director General of Police. “Right from the Home Guards to the DGP everybody will be on the duty,” he said.
Keeping the region free from traffic jams will be the biggest challenge for the police as nearly two lakh people are expected to attend the ceremony which would include rituals by the pundits, laying of stone, unveiling of a pylon and addressing a public meeting by the Prime Minister and Chief Minister.
A team of Special Protection Group visited the venue at the Uddandarayunipalem village in Thullur Mandal on the banks of river Krishna as well as the Gannvaram airport near Vijayawada where the Prime Minister and other VIPs will land.
“The Capital city will be the heart of Andhra Pradesh. It will symbolise our future,” said Naidu, who has come with many novel ideas to make the foundation laying ceremony memorable.
To involve maximum people in the building of Capital, he announced “My Brick My Amarvati” initiative under which anybody can buy an “e-brick” online by donating `10. As soon as the Chief Minister launched the special website there was a flood of online buyers. The employees of Capital Region Development Authority bought the e-bricks worth `5.22 lakhs. On the first day itself half a million bricks were purchased by the people including many Telugus settled abroad.
At the same time people were also coming forward with the contribution of mortar and brick. Addanki Bricks Association of Prakasham district contributed 60,000 bricks.
Giving a sentimental touch, the people from all over the State were collecting mud, specially from the ant hills in all the 13,000 villages to be used in the foundation laying ceremony.
In another move to involve the people in the proceedings, the Chief Minister announced that a time capsule would be kept under the Pylon marking the foundation ceremony. The time capsule will have the letters from the people with their thoughts on the new capital of the State.
However, the event was not free form the political rancour as State’s leader of Opposition YS Jaganmohan Reddy has refused to attend the ceremony alleging that the Naidu Government was wasting precious resources on “show-off”. Alleging that the State Government was spending `400 crore on the event, he wrote a letter to the Chief Minister asking him not to invite him. He also alleged that the Government had forcibly taken away lands of the farmers. Ruling TDP, on the other hand, rejected the allegations. Minister for Urban Development Narayana said the allegation was baseless as only `10 crore was being spent on the event.
Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was unlikely to attend the ceremony as he will be occupied with visit to the districts in his own State on the day.
But his son and Minister for Panchayat Raj K Taraka Rama Rao said that if invited he would attend the programme.