Lokesh assures completion of all pending Seema projects

Madanapalle (Annamayya district): Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is more interested in looting the state than development, particularly the Rayalaseema region, said TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh here on Thursday. Farmers from Chinna Tippasamudram and Kothavaripalli met Lokesh at the Pulavandlapalli campsite during his Yuva Galam padayatra and complained to him that they are facing several problems due to non-availability of water for irrigation. If the Chinna Tippasamudram pond is linked with Handri-Neeva project, they will get sufficient water for irrigation which will solve all their problems.

The pond is spread over 500 acre which can supply water for over 1,000 acre, they said. If the pond is linked to Handri-Neeva they can cultivate two crops in a year and this will solve all their woes, the farmers told Lokesh and appealed to him to take up the works once the TDP is into power again.

Responding to their pleas, Lokesh said that Jagan Mohan Reddy is interested only in minting money by looting the state. Observing that 80 per cent of the works of Handri-Neeva were completed during N Chandrababu Naidu government and Jagan did not bother to complete the remaining 20 per cent works.

"This clearly indicates that he is not interested in the farmers welfare. When we are back into government, which is not far, all the pending projects will be completed, including the Handri-Neeva project. Also, the pond of Chinna Tippasamudram too will be linked with the Handri Neeva," he assured. Earlier, representatives of the Chittoor district Brahmin Seva Samakhya met Lokesh and told him that this government has scrapped all the welfare schemes for Brahmins. They appealed to him to revive all the schemes when the TDP government is formed again.

Lokesh said that the TDP government has allocated huge amount of funds for the Brahmin Corporation and also introduced several schemes to help those who are from middle and lower middle class. "We have complete understanding about the problems being faced by the community," he said and sought their support for TDP returning to power. At Poolavandlapalli, local Valmiki Boya community leaders urged him to see to it that their community is included in the Scheduled Tribes (ST).

Maintaining that it is the TDP that encouraged the Valmiki community politically and provided several positions both in the party and in the government as well, Lokesh said that justice will be done to them when the TDP forms the government again. "The TDP has already constitutes the Satyapal committee and once we came to power, we will study the panel report and certainly justice will be done to you,'' he told the Valmiki community leaders.

At Yenumuvaripalli of Madanapalle Assembly constituency, handloom workers appealed to Lokesh to issue identity cards to them which this government had stopped. Lokesh promised to revive the issuance of the identity cards to all the handloom weavers and also to lift GST on handloom products. Later, minorities representatives who met him complained that interest-free loans are not being extended to them. The TDP national general secretary promised to revive the scheme besides setting up Islamic bank. Industrial clusters will be established in all the Assembly constituencies in the state to provide employment to the youth from minorities, he added.