AP Secretariat mortgaged for 370 Crores says reports

In what could be another shocking revelation by a leading newspaper of Andhra Pradesh, the ruling dispensation led by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has allegedly mortgaged the state Secretariat in Amaravati to get a loan of 370 Crores from HDFC Bank. As per the scathing article published in today’s paper, the government has initially approached the ICICI Bank to pledge these assets for acquiring the loan. After failing to convince the bank authorities of ICICI, the government then turned up at HDFC Bank and managed to eke out the deal.

After the bifurcation of AP from Telangana in 2011, a new secretariat building was constructed by the former CM Chandra Babu Naidu with a budget outlay of 700 Crores. The executive building, which houses various administrative offices integral to the government of AP, started functioning in 2017. It has five administrative blocks along with the Legislative assembly and council of the State.

The bank authorities have asked the government to pledge the assets to sanction half of its value as a loan. So, the government has silently mortgaged the five blocks of the building to get 370 Crores loan. Also, reports suggest that the ruling party plans to acquire more loans from banks by mortgaging remaining government assets like employee quarters and other government buildings in the coming days.

Many of these buildings were fully built by the previous government. Also, many quarters of employees were nearly completed with proper connectivity through roads. However, after the change of government, all construction activities were stalled and these buildings were left unoccupied. The area around Amaravati now wears a deserted look.

Chandra Babu Naidu immediately took to X and fired on Jagan Mohan Reddy for this shameful act. He criticized that the government is blatantly mortgaging the self-respect and the brand of Andhra Pradesh with its arbitrary policies. He said the Secretariat is the heart of governance in the State and asked why it was mortgaged for a loan of 370 Crores.

There has been a widespread remonstration among the public of Andhra Pradesh immediately after the news went viral on social media platforms. The government is yet to respond on this issue.

This is not the first instance of selling the government properties for loans. In the past, YS Jagan’s government acquired loans by mortgaging various public buildings in Vizag. Ever since taking power in 2019, the government acquired massive loans to implement several cash transfer schemes in the past five years.