Amaravathi, July 27: Expressing serious concern that all the irrigation projects in the State have been stalled, the former chief minister and TDP national president, Mr Nara Chandrababu Naidu, here on Thursday asked how the Jagan Mohan Reddy Government can be expected to construct projects which is unable to manage even the canals.
“The Chief Minister, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy, has done great injustice to the irrigation sector and all the projects have come to a grinding halt due to his inefficiency,” remarked Mr Chandrababu Naidu while talking to media persons at the party headquarters here for the third consecutive day on Thursday. “If the Vamsadhara, Nagavali, the Godavari, Krishna and the Penna rivers besides other 69 rivers in the State are interlinked Andhra Pradesh will be in top position in South India,” the former chief minister felt.
Observing that the Sujala Sravanthi is part of an exercise to interlink the rivers in North Andhra, Mr Chandrababu Naidu said that the TDP government has prepared a master plan to interlink all the rivers in the region like the Vamsadhara and the Nagavali along with their tributaries like Sarada, Varaha, Thandava and Eleru. “We have taken steps to supply water to Eleru by completing the Purushottamapatnam lift irrigation which is the part of the Polavaram project that is the bedrock of our State. If the Godavari waters are supplied to North Andhra the entire region will turn into a lush green area,” Mr Chandrababu narrated.
Pointing out that as he spoke about the irrigation projects in Rayalaseema on Wednesday, the Chief Secretary hurriedly called for a review meeting, the TDP supremo felt that still the Chief Minister did not find time while the Minister for Irrigation has absolutely no knowledge except shouting. What is the use of simply conducting review meetings, he asked and advised the Government to visit the project sites so that the ground reality will be known as to how worse the condition of the projects.
“Through a power-point presentation I have presented all the facts before the public on the present condition of all the irrigation projects, on the percentage of works completed,” Mr Chandrababu Naidu said and demanded the State Government to respond on the irrigation sector and on the completion of the remaining works of the projects. “If there is no response, you have no right to continue in power any longer,” the former chief minister felt.
Pointing out that the TDP government from 2014 to 2019 had spent Rs 21,442 cr on the irrigation projects in Coastal Andhra, Mr Chandrababu said that the YSRCP Government had spent a mere Rs 4,375 cr from 2019 to 2023. Giving the minute details on how the TDP had spent the funds on various projects, Mr Chandrababu naidu asked what is the reply of the State Government now.
Observing that the Chief Secretary during his latest review meeting only narrated cock and bull stories, the former chief minister felt that both the Chief Minister and the Minister concerned were unable to hold the review meetings and thus drafted the Chief Secretary for the purpose. In these four years 198 projects, including 96 in Coastal Andhra and 102 in Rayalaseema, have been pre-closed, Mr Chandrababu demanded a reply from the Government as to why these projects have been pre-closed and why orders have been issued to call for tenders again for five years.
Not even a single project has been taken up after the YSRCP came to power, the former chief minister said, adding that not even a single acre has been supplied irrigation water in these four years. “If an inefficient becomes the Chief Minister this will be the condition of the projects and the people,” Mr Chandrababu remarked.
Stating that the ruling party leaders have looted Rs 40,000 cr in these four years in the port city of Visakhapatnam, he felt that with these Rs 40,000 cr all the projects in North Andhra can be completed and the whole land in the region can be supplied water. The Ministers from North Andhra have become partners in looting this money but not in the development of the region, he remarked.
The TDP supremo said that in the past four years the State Government has borrowed a whopping Rs 10 lakh cr which the future generations have to bear the burden. Still there is no response what good is done for the State, he remarked. What happened to the mineral wealth, what is the fate of the public properties and where the collection of heavy taxes imposed on the common man going, he asked.
Coming down heavily on the Government for neglecting the irrigation which is a crucial sector for creating assets, Mr Nara Chandrababu Naidu demanded the State Government to answer the public on the future of the irrigation projects.
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