TDP leader Devineni Umamaheswara Rao on Sunday accused Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy of not doing enough to ensure early completion of the Polavaram project.
Addressing the media, Mr. Rao, who was former Irrigation Minister, said that Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy should personally meet the Prime Minister and the Union Ministers and seek immediate release of funds for early completion of the irrigation project.
“Instead of doing that, he is entrusting the task of getting funds from the Centre to the irrigation officials,” Mr. Rao said.
Former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu during his tenure had visited Delhi 29 times seeking release of funds and for securing approvals for completion of 71% of works at the project site, Mr. Rao said.
Accusing the government of neglecting the project’s progress, Mr. Rao said the Chief Minister had reviewed the project after a gap of nearly three months on October 1, and the government was silent on the implementation of the Relief and Rehabilitation (R&R) package for the evacuees.
“The YSRCP government had promised to supply water from Polavaram to farmers from June this year. Now, it has postponed it to kharif next,” he pointed out.
‘Promises not fulfilled’
“Many oustees, most of them adivasis, are staring at a bleak future due to the government’s apathy. The promise of handing over houses to the 18,000 project-displaced families by June 2020 has not yet materialised. No effort is being made to fulfil the promise,” Mr. Rao alleged.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, during his padayatra, had promised to pay the evacuees ₹10 lakh per acre towards compensation and implement the Land Acquisition Act of 2013. He had also promised to pay ₹5 lakh per acre to those who had already parted with their lands for the project, Mr. Rao said, and alleged that None of the promises had been fulfilled.
He also criticised the government for not responding to the woes of the farmers who had incurred huge losses due to Cyclone Gulab.
Mr. Rao said the government should explain who had benefited from the ₹550-crore R&R package paid under the Polavaram resettlement plan.
Alleging gross injustice to the evacuees, Mr. Rao said his party leader N. Lokesh had written two letters to the government after visiting the affected areas and interacting with the displaced people. But there was no positive response from the government, he alleged.
