While the arrangements for the spectacular foundation stone laying ceremony for Amaravati are going on at breakneck speed, Rayalaseema water rights organization, Kundu Nadi Porata samti, Rayalaseem Vari Vutpattidarulu Sangham, several studens organizations gave a call for the boycott of Amravarati ceremony, protesting wresting of capital from Rayalaseema. In a press conference in Nandyal, Kurnool district, leaders of these organizations urged the people’s representatives of region’s political parties to boycott the foundation laying ceremony as it amounts to the economic, political and cultural hegemony of Andhra region over backward Rayalaseem . Bojja Dasarathrami Reddy ( Rayalaseema water rights), Ramachandra Reddy (Vari Vutpattidarula Sangam), Sudhakar Rao (Kundu Nadi Porata Samiti) urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to attend the ceremony in view of the controversial nature of the Amaravati project and wide spread opposition to the location of the city amid fertile lands. After the press conference Bojja Dasarathrami Reddy spoke to ‘telugu360.c0m’ from Nandyal.
Excerpts
Q:Is it fair to boycott a function which is meant to construct a prestigious capital city for the state of Andhra Pradesh?
Bojja: We don’t consider Amaravati a prestigious project, given the way the place was decided, designed, and implemented. What happened on June 2, 2014 was the restoration 1953 Andhra state. At that time Kurnool was the capital. Kurnool was chosen because Coastal region was developed and rich. So, after a long deliberation they located capital at Kurnool and High Court at Guntur. Now, Kurnool should have been restored as the capital. Amaravati capital is violates the Sri Bagh pact, which was signed by Andhra, Rayalaseema leader sas a condition to come out of Madras state. Capital is our right. If you violate this you will have face consequences.
Q:Now that capital construction reached a point of no return, why don’t you demand a compensatory package in lieu of Capital?
Bojja: Not at all possible. Capital location was a unilateral decision by TDP chief minister Naidu for political reasons. CM is constructing it as if is TDP office. He decided the location of the capital on his own. Now, to gain sanctity for his act of sacrilege he is taking our ‘soil and water’ to be mixed with illegal capital. He will later say the capital has the approval of all regions, see, their soil and water is also mixed here. It is nothing rubbing salt to the wound. There are many other important issues that are compelling to us to boycott the ceremony
Q: What are the other issues?
Bojja: What is happening in Srisailam project? The water level should be maintained at 854 ft. But citing a old GO, water is released affecting the storage of reservoir which in turn will make water unavailable for Rayalaseema. There is about 132 TMC water available in Nagarjunasagar. He is not touching this. Are you not deliberately denying water to Rayalaseema by this. I can cite a hundred such anti-Rayalaseema, pro-Andhra decisions of chief minister Naidu. So, a compromise is not possible. There is no compensation for the loss of capital.
Q: What is the solution and how to avoid confrontation between two regions?
Bojja: We are not for confrontation. We want capital to be located in Kurnool. I don’t know the shape the demand would take in future. We are observing October 22, 2015 as ‘black day’.
We are also requesting the PM to see the reason in our demand and the arguments of many more intellectual in the location of capital right from Sivaramkrishnan. We are urging Prime Minister to set up a committee to study the controversy surrounding Amaaravati before attending the foundation stone laying ceremony. Our request to him is that it is not proper for PM to attend the ceremony on October 22.
