TDP chief alleges utter neglect of irrigation in state

Vijayawada: Expressing serious concern that all the irrigation projects in the state have been stalled, TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday asked how the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government can be expected to construct projects while it is unable to maintain even the canals.

“The Chief Minister has done great injustice to the irrigation sector and all the projects have come to a grinding halt due to his inefficiency,” the former chief minister said while talking to media persons at the party headquarters in Mangalagiri. “If the Vamsadhara, Nagavali, Godavari, Krishna and the Penna rivers besides other 69 major water bodies in the state are interlinked Andhra Pradesh will be in top position in South India,” he felt.

Observing that the Sujala Sravanthi is part of an exercise to interlink the rivers in north Andhra, Naidu said that the TDP government had prepared a master plan to interlink all the rivers in the region like the Vamsadhara and the Nagavali along with their tributaries like Sarada, Varaha, Thandava and Eleru. “We have taken steps to supply water to Yeleru by completing the Purushottapatnam lift irrigation which is the part of the Polavaram project that is the bedrock of our state. If Godavari waters are supplied to north Andhra the entire region will turn into a lush green area,” he said. Pointing out that after he spoke about the irrigation projects in Rayalaseema on Wednesday, the chief secretary hurriedly called for a review meeting, the TDP supremo felt that still the Chief Minister did not find time while the minister for irrigation has absolutely no knowledge except shouting. What is the use of simply conducting review meetings, he asked and advised the government to visit the project sites so that the ground reality will be known as to how worse the condition of the projects. Stating that the TDP government from 2014 to 2019 had spent Rs 21,442 crore on the irrigation projects in coastal Andhra, Chandrababu said that the YSRCP government had spent a mere Rs 4,375 crore from 2019 to 2023.

Observing that the chief secretary during his latest review only narrated ‘cock and bull stories’, the former chief minister said both the Chief Minister and irrigation minister were unable to hold the review meetings and thus drafted the chief secretary for the purpose. In these four years, 198 projects, including 96 in coastal Andhra and 102 in Rayalaseema, have been pre-closed, Chandrababu demanded a reply from the government as to why these projects have been pre-closed and why orders have been issued to call for tenders again for five years.

Not even a single project has been taken up after the YSRCP came to power, TDP chief said, adding that not even a single acre has been supplied irrigation water in these four years.

Alleging that the ruling party leaders have looted Rs 40,000 crore in these four years in the port city of Visakhapatnam, he said that with these Rs 40,000 crore all the projects in north Andhra can be completed and the whole land in the region can be supplied with water. The ministers from north Andhra have become partners in looting this money but not in the development of the region, he said.