On this 22nd October, the people of Andhra Pradesh will wake up to the historic day of the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the state's capital city, Amaravati. Interestingly, this will be the first time in the entire world that a foundation stone is being laid for a world-class capital city. The presence of the Prime Ministers of two of the most powerful countries in the world, Japan and Singapore, is drawing global attention towards Amaravati inauguration.
Recently, there was a huge criticism about the AP government spending close to 300 crores just for the inauguration ceremony. Opposition parties and even some commoners saw this as a waste of valuable money when the state is reeling under a huge financial crunch. But here's why the spending of such a huge amount is justified.
Amaravati inauguration is no small event as it involves the attendance of several prominent world leaders, top brass industrialists and celebrities from all walks of life. To carry out a smooth and an impactful ceremony, it requires several logistics from flying flights to plying cars which in turn it need a lot of money.
Let's take the example of the grand Olympics inaugural ceremonies. Every four years, countries that host just a 2-week Olympic event spend hundreds of crores of rupees on the inaugural and closing ceremonies. The result, entire world's attention will be on the event, which generates huge revenue through sponsorships, TV rights and advertisements etc.
On the contrary, Amaravati inauguration is not a 2-week affair but it lasts forever in the history. One should not see the spending of 300 crores on the inauguration ceremony as a wastage but as an investment, just like the Olympics. With such a pompous inaugural ceremony, the world's confidence on the state may increase which inturn may result in investments to the tune of thousands and even lakhs of crores of rupees.
After the construction of Amaravati and when AP treads the developmental path, this 300 crore investment will only be seen as a seed that sowed a huge dream called Amaravati.