17 hours ago
Hold all-party meeting on irrigation projects, CPI demands govt
Vijayawada: CPI State secretary K Ramakrishna on Sunday demanded that the State government convene an all-party meeting to discuss the irrigation projects in the State.
He said Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu Chandrababu Naidu has taken unilateral decision on construction of Polavaram-Banakcherla (Kurnool) district link project to divert Godavari waters to Rayalaseema region.
Addressing a media conference at the State party office, Ramakrishna said Polavaram-Banakacherla project may prove disastrous for Andhra Pradesh. He reminded the Kaleswaram project was disastrous for Telangana State and warned that AP would also face the same problem.
He demanded that the Chief Minister should convene an all-party meeting to discuss the pending irrigation projects and the proposed projects to be taken up by the State government. He said it was not correct on the part of the State government to take up Polavaram-Banakcherla project with Rs 82,000 crore when many other projects are not completed and works are pending.
He said the Telangana government had started the Kaleswaram project with estimated cost of Rs 81,911 crore and so far the TS government had spent Rs 1.03 lakh crore and still the project is not completed. He said as per the 2024 estimates, the Kaleswaram project needs another Rs 1.47 crore.
He said Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu should hold an all-party meeting before proposals are made for construction of Polavaram-Banakacherla project.
He pointed out that the Chief Minister was trying to convince the Central government and wanted to go ahead on Banakacherla project. He said the Chief Minister should discuss openly on the Banakcherla project.
Ramakrishna pointed out that Vamsadhara, Uttarandhra Sujala Sravanthi, Handri Neeva, Galeru Nagari, Veligonda, Tarakarama Teertha Sagar, Janjavati and other projects are not completed and felt it is meaningless to spend Rs 82,000 crore on Polavaram-Banakacherla project.
