Chandrababu Naidu, Gadkari statements on port confuse Prakasam people

Ongole: The Prakasam district people who are demanding for construction of port and shipbuilding center, were awestruck by the sudden and confusing announcements of Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. They feel that there is a conspiracy by the both governments to stop the agitations by confusing public.

On his Visakhapatnam tour in the second week of July, Union minister Nitin Gadkari announced that the Centre is ready to construct a port at Vadarevu near Chirala in Prakasam district, if the state can allocate 3,000 acres of land there. 

He said the port at Visakhapatnam cannot be extended further as there is no land available and to meet the increasing demand of traffic, a new port should be constructed nearby. Last week, in his speech at Dharma Poratam, Naidu announced that he respects the aspirations of district people and will lay foundation stone for the port at Ramayapatnam soon.

These unexpected statements from both rattled public in district. For years, the people are agitating for a port and ship building center at Ramayapatnam. The demand gained momentum when different agencies including Visakhapatnam port, AECOM, RITES denied the proposal to construct port at Dugarajapatnam by saying it is economically and technically non-viable. But the only obstruction to Ramayapatnam port is Concession Agreement (CA) between Krishnapatnam Port Company Limited (KPCL) and AP Government.

As per the CAG report published for 2012, the initial agreement is made in January 1997 with the special purpose vehicle of KPCL. Though there is no clause in original agreement to change or amend the CA, in September 2004, the AP Government received a request from KPCL to provide more concessions including the extension of lease period from 30 to 50 years and provide more land to port when required. 

The KPCL also requested the AP government to allocate 5,000 acres land and the government obliged it in October 2007 and handed over 2,978 acres by 2011. In the amendment made by the request of KPCL, the government conferred exclusivity rights to port management from 30-70 km either side by making amendment to CA in February 2009. This irregular extension of concessionary rights of 15 per cent of state coastal line to KPCL, without any profit to state, grabbed Ramayapatnam port area and extended up to 30 km south of Vadarevu.

On the other hand, around 5,000 acres of government and private lands in Vadarevu village are acquired and handed over to Vadarevu and Nizampatnam Port and Industrial Corridor by the state government in 2008. In the Cabinet meeting held on June 4, 2016, the energy, infrastructure and investment department secretary Ajay Jain informed the ministers that Adani Group is interested to construct a port at Vadarevu and Naidu is said to be ordered the officials to arrange the company a meeting with concerned officials. 

Later, in July 2017, the lands are attached by the ED in the alleged quid pro quo and prevention of money laundering cases, preventing all land transactions. There is 4,000 acres of Mada forest at Vadarevu, should be acquired from forest department by satisfying the environment and other laws. In the meantime, the government is working on Bhavanapadu port in Srikakulam district to meet the demand of traffic at Visakhapatnam and diverting a portion of it to Kakinada already.

Nitin Gadkari’s statement raises hopes on Vadarevu port, but the public remembers the Centre’s promise of allocating Rs 400 crore to construct a mini harbour at same Vadarevu. Chunchu Seshaiah, member of Suparipalana Vedika, said the Union Ministry didn’t kept its promise of releasing Rs 400 crore for the construction of harbour at Vadarevu, but is now wants to construct the port. He said Gadkari knows there is no land readily available at Vadarevu, but promising it makes his government to stand on the safe side.

This move by Gadkari can also be seen as a motive to instigate regional differences between people in the district, he said. Chunduru Rangarao, president, Prakasam District Development Forum, said even if the government wants to acquire land, it should implement the Land Acquisition Act 2013, which is not possible at Vadarevu and this statement of Gadkari is for killing the time up to elections.

Rangarao, who held numerous roundtable meetings and discussions on Ramayapatnam Port, is surprised by the statement of Naidu in Ongole last week, said there is no use by foundation and demanded the state to amend the CA with KPCL to reduce the exclusivity from 70 km to 30 km on each side to give place to Ramayapatnam port. 

He asked Naidu then to follow the procedure and inform the Centre that Ramayapatnam is best available place for construction of major port in the bifurcation act. Seshaiah said the Centre already appointed a three-member committee to identify the ideal location to construct port as Dugarajapatnam is non-viable. He said announcement of Vadarevu by Gadkari is nothing but influencing the officers’ team to select it than Ramayapatnam, which is acclaimed as the best place by government and private agencies. 

Seshaiah said Naidu is speaking about Dugarajapatnam port all the four years and suddenly after entering Ongole he promised to lay foundation to Ramayapatnam. This is due to reports on increasing demand and agitation for Ramayapatnam port and he just promised them to get more time and confuse the public. 

Former Ongole MP YV Subbareddy said the BJP and TDP are colluded to divide the people and that is why they are talking about Vadarevu port, when the public are demanding Ramayapatnam port. He announced the YSRCP will welcome the government if they could construct two ports.