Andhra CM's Rs10 a piece e-brick selling like hot cakes

Hyderabad - Naidu had launched the e-initiative named "My Brick, My Amaravathi" on Thursday.

By P S Jayaram

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Published: Sat 17 Oct 2015, 12:00 AM

Last updated: Sat 17 Oct 2015, 10:29 AM

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu's novel e-initiative to attract crowd-funding for the construction of the new capital city Amaravathi seems to have had a positive effect with thousands of Telugus living in various parts of the country and abroad buying online the symbolic e-bricks costing Rs10 a piece.
Naidu had launched the e-initiative named "My Brick, My Amaravathi" on Thursday and by late evening, officials claimed that thousands of Telugus had instantly responded to the chief minister's e-donation campaign. According to government sources, Srinivas Valluri, a resident of Peddapuram, was one of the early birds picking up 108 bricks even as the launch of the payment gateway was underway.
Employees of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA), the agency set up to look after the capital construction, contributed a day's salary amounting to over Rs520,200 to buy 52,200 e-bricks. The sources said that Telugus living in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and different parts of the residuary state were quick to respond, and by 10pm, 2,219 donors had purchased 231,868 e-bricks amounting to over Rs2.3 million. A senior official in the chief minister's Office said there was no restriction on the number of bricks one can buy.
The names of all those who purchase the e-bricks would be registered in the electronic database, and as a token of appreciation, authorities have decided to present the donors with certificates signed by the chief minister. The payment gateway set up on the website /www.amaravati.gov.in>www.amaravati.gov.in allows people to buy e-bricks using their debit and credit cards.
Meanwhile, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government, despite facing severe financial crunch, is going all out to make the foundation stone laying ceremony of Amaravathi on October 22 an extravagant affair with the total expenditure expected to be upwards of Rs3 billion!
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreeing to lay the foundation stone for the river front capital, coming up between Vijayawada and Guntur in the prosperous coastal Andhra region, massive arrangements are being made to make it a memorable affair. All the government departments have been asked to release funds to make arrangements for hospitality, logistics and security.
Besides sending out invitations to thousands of guests including chief ministers, union ministers and MPs, the state government wants citizens from all the 13 districts to come in hordes for the function. It has been made clear to the officials that there should be no dearth in the facilities to be provided to the VVIP guests as well as the general public.
Several helipads are being laid out to ferry in the guests, and rooms in all the hotels in Vijayawada and other nearby towns are completely blocked to house the VVIP guests and leaders from various political parties. "The birth of Amaravati will be a spectacular occasion to create an emotional bond among the people," said the communications adviser to the state government P Prabhabkar.
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The Vijayawada-Guntur region has been chosen for the capital as it is centrally located and accessible from all parts of the state.
The Singapore government has designed master plan for the city that seeks to combine tradition with modernity and incorporates the concepts of Vastu and Feng Shui, the Indian and Chinese sciences of construction. This is the first time that a foreign country has designed a state capital in India.
The state government has already pooled 33,000 acres from farmers spread over 29 villages under the land pooling system for building the new capital city.
Coming up on the banks of river Krishna in the prosperous coastal region, Amaravathi, named after the ancient Buddhist city and the seat of power of Telugu rulers nearly two millennia ago, will be spread over 217 sq km. The city has been designed in such a way that it touches three national highways and will be fed by seven growth corridors including those from Hyderabad to Machlipatnam Port and from Chennai to Visakhapatnam.
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