Andhra’s Jagan government asks expert committee to review development projects

Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, September 13

Andhra Pradesh’s Jagan Mohan Reddy government has set up an expert committee to review ongoing projects in the state, a development that comes as uncertainty prevails over the fate of the Amaravati Capital City Project.

Many of the projects under review had been approved by the previous dispensation under the Telugu Desam Party. Among them is former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s pet project—developing Amaravati to serve as the state’s capital city.

Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, who had suspended several of these projects as soon as he was voted to power in assembly elections held in May this year, has frequently claimed that the proposed Amaravati project is riddled with irregularities.

Pullout of the World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Development and Investment Bank (AIIB) from the Amaravati project last month cast shadows of doubt over whether the project would see the light of day.

The committee will have five experts who will “undertake a quick review of the developmental plans initiated so far and suggest comprehensive strategy for all-round development of the entire state, including the Capital", Municipal Administration and Urban Development Secretary J Syamala Rao said in an order.

Retired IAS officer G Nageswara Rao will be the convenor of the committee that will have Mahaveer, Professor of Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi; Anjali Mohan, Urban and Regional Planner; Shivananda Swamy, CEPT, Ahmedabad; K T Ravindran, retired professor, Delhi School of Architecture, and K V Arunachalam, retired Chief Urban Planner, Chennai, as its members. The committee will co-opt who is an expert in environmental issues and flood management, the order said.

The committee has six weeks to hand in its report, the order said.

Former government under Chandrababu Naidu approved projects to develop a new capital city after Telangana split from the united Andhra in 2014.  Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has claimed there is corruption in several of projects the previous government approved, including the Polavaram irrigation project.