Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid foundation stone of the new capital city of Andhra Pradesh – Amaravati – at the Uddandayauruni Palem village.
The village is located 19 kilometer away from Vijayawada in Krishna District on the banks of River Krishna and is one of the three villages where the seed capital will come up.
The other two seed villages are – Lingayapalem and Thallayapalem.
Need for New Capital
Construction of new capital became necessary for Andhra Pradesh as the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, through which the state was bifurcated, mandates that Hyderabad will be the common capital for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana at most for 10 years.
After the stipulated time, Hyderabad, which is geographically located within Telangana, will remain as the sole capital of Telangana State.
About New City of Amaravati
- The name Amaravti is derived from the ancient capital of erstwhile Satavahana rulers.
- Amaravati is the fifth planned capital city built in independent India followed by Gandhinagar, Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar and Naya Raipur.
- It will be constructed in an area of around 33000 acres or 217 square kilometre in a multi-phased manner through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
- The first phase of the city will be ready by 2018.
The land need for Amaravti was collected on ‘pooling’ basis from farmers.
About Ancient Amaravati
- Ancient city of Amaravati was located on the banks of river Krishna.
- It derived its name from Lord Amareswara temple in the village and it is known as Dakshina Kashi (Kashi of the South).
- It was the ancient seat of power of the Satavahanas for 400 years who ruled the country way back in 230 BCE.
- It also means the City of Gods (in Sanskrit, it literally means the Abode of Immortals) and as per Puranas, the city was ruled by Lord Indra.
- It is a place, where not only Saivism and Vaishnavism developed but also Buddhism and Jainism flourished here.
- It is one of the 12 heritage cities of the country which was chosen by the Union Government for development.