YSRCP candidate to face heat as govt delays water tanker bills
Contractors of water tankers staging a protest on NH 765 near Kunta in Peddaraveedu mandal on Sunday
Yerragondaplaem: The inordinate delay in clearing the bills for the supply of drinking water through the tankers by the state government left with no option but to withdraw the services, and announce non-cooperation in the coming elections, announced the water tanker contractors in Yerragondapalem assembly constituency.
A number of the contractors led by Yerva Mallikharjuna Reddy, Kanneboyina Rajaiah, Ravi Chandrudu, Satyanarayana Reddy, and others staged a protest on the national highway 765 at Hanuman Junction Kunta in Peddaraveedu mandal of Yerragondapalem constituency. They said that the RWS department supplies drinking water through the tankers to the public in the region.
Many of the YSR Congress Party village-level leaders, village secretariat conveners and booth conveners have been supplying the water for years, but the government didn’t pay them the bills for almost four and half years.
After mounting pressure on the local MLA and Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Dr Audimulapu Suresh was successful in releasing a fraction of the bills.
However, almost every contractor should receive about Rs 15 to 20 lakh from the government, they informed. Some of them claimed that the loan companies had taken away their tankers as they failed to pay the instalments in time.
The YSRCP leaders said that they are facing a hard time at home, and from the money lenders, and are unable to come outside or sit inside the house. They said that they even approached the new in-charge for the YSRCP for Yerragondapalem constituency Tatiparthi Chandrasekhar, but he too tried to convince them to wait a few more weeks.
They announced that they lost hopes on Suresh and Chandrasekhar, and took the decision to go on non-cooperation. They said that they wait for the release of the bills until February 2nd, and intensify the agitation if the government doesn’t respond. They also threatened that they are unwilling to cooperate with their party candidate, Chandrasekhar, if the government ignores them.