Call for inclusion of Veligonda in Central gazette
Yeluri, Dola, Ravi write letter ahead of CM visit
Sagar full but no water to Prakasam district
AMARAVATI: Three TDP MLAs from the Prakasam district on Wednesday strongly criticised Chief Minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy for ‘failing’ to fulfill his promise to supply Veligonda water to their district farmers by 2021.
The TDP MLAs urged the Chief Minister to bring pressure at the national level in order to include the Veligonda project in the Central gazette. If this was not done, then the Prakasam district farmers would suffer heavily for lack of adequate water in future.
In an open letter to CM ahead of his visit to Prakasam district, TDP MLAs Yeluri Sambasiva Rao, Dola Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy and Gottipati Ravi Kumar said that though there was plenty of water in the Nagarjunasagar reservoir, their district was not getting proper supply. All that water was flowing wastefully into the sea. Their district was known for its proneness to drought and lack of water supply. Immediate steps were required to save the farmers.
The TDP MLAs asked whether it was proper on the part of the officials to give unsolicited advice to farmers to grow ID crops. They were giving such advice instead of providing water supply. It was the dream of the farmers in the Parchur assembly segment to get water from the Guntur channel extension works. The previous TDP regime allocated Rs. 274 Cr for these works but they were cancelled under the present rule.
The Prakasam MLAs demanded that the Jagan regime restart and complete the works on the Sangameswaram project at Paleru in order to ensure better water supply to the farmers. The Government should also take up modernisation works on the Rallapadu project. No efforts were being made to ensure remunerative prices to the farmers of subabul and jam oil. The CM has not fulfilled his Padayatra promise to give Rs. 5,000 per tonne.
Decrying the Government’s ‘indifference’, the TDP MLAs said that the tobacco farmers were passing through difficult days due to crop losses and lack of any support from the Government. The fate of the paddy, maize, red gram and other crops was no different. The Prakasam district was receiving a bad deal on all fronts. The YCP regime has driven away the Asian Pulp Paper Mills industry. If it came up, thousands of work and job opportunities would have been created for the district youth.
The TDP MLAs further said that drought, crop losses and farmers’ suicides were more in their district. Unless the Government gave special support, the district farmers would be unable to come out of their present crisis. It was sad that the Government was not even giving subsidy loans through the SC, BC, Minority and Kapu corporations. The public were losing much needed support from all sides.
The MLAs said that the Chief Minister owed an explanation to the Government employees why he did not fulfill his promise on the PRC even after two and half years. They were betrayed even with regard to the CPS cancellation. The weaker sections were given a raw deal by cancelling the benefits under the Ambedkar Videsi Vidya. Even the residential schools were weakened. The best available schools concept was set aside, which harmed over 29,200 students.
The TDP MLAs deplored that the State Government has not rescued the people from steep hike in petrol and diesel prices. Fixing meters on motors would deal a big blow. In the name of true-up current charges, unbearable financial burdens were placed on the people. There was an additional burden of Rs. 25 Cr on the Prakasam district people this month. Sand has turned into gold because of the ruling party mafia. Over 200 granite quarries and industries were closed in the district because of the Government policies.
