I am custodian of North Andhra: AP CM

Cheepurupalli (Vizianagaram): Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu asserted that progress of Andhra Pradesh was possible only with Telugu Desam government and added that interlinking all major rivers in the state was his top priority.

Naidu participated in ‘Jalasiriki Haarathi’ programme at Cheepurupalli village, near here on Wednesday. Speaking on the occasion, he said that he was proud to say that he inaugurated Thotapalli project and completed it after a gap of more than ten years.

“We are aiming to interlink the river Nagavali with rivers Swarnamukhi, and Vamsadhara and Champavathi to provide irrigation facility to lakhs of hectares of lands in North Andhra. We will fill 9,000 water tanks and complete 28 pending projects with the budget of Rs 13,000 crores, shortly,” he said.

The Chief Minister informed that the government would distribute 25,000 solar pump sets to farmers. “We have organised Godavari and Krishna Pushkaralu as a grand fete and the tradition will continue in future as well. I am a man of my words and hiked the pension amount to widows and senior citizens as promised.

We will sanction funds to provide underground drainage system in all major panchayats,” he added. Taking a dig at leaders of opposition parties, “Some leaders are habitually obstructing the progress of irrigation projects through courts but we will not step back.

I will take all possible steps for the progress of the North Andhra districts. I will play the role of custodian. Welfare of women is paramount and in line with it orders have been given to remove illegal liquor shops near schools, residential areas and places of worship,” he said.