Communist Party of India (CPI) State Secretary K. Ramakrishna, A.P. Congress president Sake Sailajanath and other senior leaders from Left parties on Thursday resolved to come together to put pressure on the Central government to complete the Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) of nearly one lakh displaced families from the affected area of the Polavaram irrigation project.
A virtual meeting was organised on the issue, and was moderated by the CPI. “The onus of completing the R&R exercise is on the Centre as per the A.P. Reorganisation Act, 2014. The Centre cannot disown its responsibility now,” Mr. Ramakrishna said.
He also said that pinning hope on the State government to complete the R&R exercise would be unwise, given its present state of finances.
“Pressure can be put on the Centre to extend financial aid for the R&R package only with support from all political parties in the State. The State government should also be equally prepared to convince the Centre for the financial grant for the R&R package,” said Mr. Ramakrishna.
In his address, Mr. Sailajanath stated that the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government has failed to convince the Centre on the Polavaram Irrigation project’s financial components. He added that the Congress was ready to join all parties to fight for the R&R issues.
A decision has been taken to conduct the field-level visits in the affected areas of the Polavaram irrigation project to inspect the Resettlement and Rehabilitation exercise by June-end.
