Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to lay stone for the Singapore-like capital of Andhra Pradesh on 22 October and the preparations are going on in full swing for Amaravati's foundation ceremony.
Narendra Modi has agreed to be the chief guest at the foundation ceremony of Amravati. The Prime Minister will arrive at Gannavaram Airport near Vijayawada by a special aircraft at 11. 45 am. He will then drive down to Uddandarayunipalem. The foundation stone laying rituals are expected to start at 12.45 pm on 22 October and the programme will last for about three hours.
A film on Amravati and CM Chadrababu Naidu's vision for the capital will be screened at the event, which will also witness a few cultural events. Modi will launch an e-brick portal to enable people to donate money for building the capital. He will also felicitate farmers, who have given their land for the capital. Saikumar will reportedly be anchoring the event, which is handled by Wizcraft.
The AP Govt has created a beautiful invitation card for the event, which has four pages offering the details of the government's symbol, Amaravathi Sthupam, Amaravati's history and AP Capital Master Plan. The CM has invited Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, other ministers from Japan and Singapore, central ministers, Governors, CMs of other states in India and film stars from Tollywood.
The Govt has also made lavish arrangements for a vegetarian feast. It will be a boxed lunch with a bottle of water. Over 1.5 lakh people are expected to enjoy the meal at the foundation ceremony. Hyderabad-based KMK Event Management Pvt Limited is responsible for the catering service.
Amaravati is located on the banks of River Krishna at a distance of 35 km away from Guntur and 40 km from Vijayawada. Along with Dharanikota, this small village, which is named after Amareswara Swamy Temple, was once the seat of power during the rule of Satavahana, who ruled during the 2nd and 3rd century BC. Since then, it continued as the capital of many Andhra dynasties until the Mogul conquest.
This historical aspect prompted Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu zeroing in on Amaravati as the new capital of Andhra Pradesh. The Chief Minister has grand plans of building the capital as per a Singapore-like model. He has roped in the Singapore Government to prepare the master plan for the capital city.
Amravati will be a three-layered administrative headquarters -- the seed capital, capital city and the capital region. The important buildings like Assembly, Secretariat and Raj Bhavan would be constructed within the core capital area of 7,500 acres. The govenment estimates that at least Rs 20,000 crore will be required to build the new capital.
The Central government has promised to give Rs 10,000 crore for the same. Chandrababu Naidu has launched a website where people from across the globe can donate money by buying bricks at cost of Rs 10 each. About 20 lakh bricks have been bought by people within a few days after the launch of the initiative "My Brick My Amaravati".
Besides, the government has planned to bring soil and water from each village of the 13 districts and the same will be used in iconic or heritage buildings in the capital. "Soil and water from 34,000 villages is coming to Amaravati. People will get a sentiment that they were part of capital building," said Palle Raghunath, Information and Public Relations Minister.
