Amaravati: Amid fanfare, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday laid the foundation stone of Andhra Pradesh’s new capital Amaravati at Uddandarayunipalem village in Guntur district.

Union ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu, Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Nirmala Sitaraman, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and chief ministers, N. Chandrababu Naidu and K. Chandrasekhar Rao, were among those present on the occasion of ‘shila nyas’ in the village, about 40km from Vijayawada, the commercial hub of Andhra Pradesh.

Modi went around ‘Amaravati Pavilion’, a walk through showcasing evolution of Amaravati, its present and future. Amaravati was once the seat of power of Satavahana rulers. As per a call given by Chandrababu Naidu, soil and water from 16,000 villages in the state and prominent pilgrim centres in the country have been brought to the capital region to be used in the construction of the capital city. The idea is to promote a sense of belongingness among the people, officials said. Singapore government agencies have prepared the master plans for the three-layered capital—seed capital, capital city and capital region.