Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is leaving to Bhubaneswar to meet his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday to discuss the issues related to construction of Neradi barrage over the Vamsadhara River, Kotia cluster of villages and Janjhavathi project.
Mr. Reddy held a preparatory meeting with officials at camp office in Guntur on Monday on the agenda to be discussed with Mr. Patnaik.
Among the issues that could come up for discussion, construction of Neradi barrage is a major issue. The officials informed the Chief Minister that 103 acre of land is required from Odisha for construction of the barrage, of which 67 acre of land is riverbed area and added that barrage will provide immediate irrigation facilities to 5-6 thousand acres in Odisha region.
In regard to the Janjavathi project, the officials informed the Chief Minister that the water for cultivation is being provided only to 5,000 acre of 24,640 acre through a rubber dam and completion of the project would benefit the farmers. They said completion of the project would leave four villages completely and six villages partially flooded. They said nearly 1,174 acre of land in Odisha will be inundated due to the project of which 875 acres is government land. The Chief Minister will request Naveen Patnaik to co-operate with R&R.
The officials have explained to the Chief Ministers the recent developments in the Kotia cluster of villages. Vizianagaram district Collector Suryakumari said 16 out of 21 villages have decided to be with Andhra Pradesh and added that elections were also held in those villages. They said 87% people in the Kotia cluster of villages are tribal and there should be no hindrances in providing services to them.
Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, DGP Gautam Sawang, Home Secretary Kumara Vishwajit, Water Resources Secretary J. Shyamala Rao, Water Resources Department ENC Narayana Reddy and Vizianagaram district Collector A. Surya Kumari were present in the meeting.
