Telugu Desam Party Rapthadu Constituency in-charge Paritala Sriram and former Minister Paritala Sunitha have vehemently opposed the deletion of the Puttakanuma reservoir from the original Upper Penna project and adding three other reservoirs in its place.
Ms. Sunitha questioned the rationale behind naming the 56-year-old Upper Penna Project after Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and took objection to the deletion of former Minister Paritala Ravindra’s name for the Jeedipalli to Upper Penna canal. “Did Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy work for the development of the Upper Penna Project constructed half a century ago?” she asked.
At a press conference here on Thursday, Mr. Sriram welcomed the decision to add three new reservoirs to the Upper Penna project but questioned the rationale behind not inviting tenders for them nor getting estimates made afresh, while the contractor was not changed, nor the engineers.
Referring to Thopudurthi Prakash, the present MLA of Rapthadu, Mr. Sriram said: “If you are a pro-farmer as you claim, you should have retained the Puttakanuma project too and invested additional money to add the three reservoirs at Thopudurthi, Muttala, and Devarakonda. We are for the benefit of farmers and welcome these new reservoirs, but people have understood your deceptive way of implementing the project snatching away the benefit from those around Puttakanuma, who were eagerly waiting for it.”
“SSR Rate or the project cost does not change in less than two years. If you believe you could have saved ₹200 crore in this ₹803-crore project, you should have retained the Puttakanuma reservoir and added the three new ones,” Mr. Sriram observed. “We are for healthy politics and will not match you in hurling abuses,” he said.
Dig at Gorantla
He also took strong objection to Hindupur MP Gorantla Madhav referring to Paritala Ravindra and family as those connected with murders and factionism. The TDP candidate from Rapthadu Assembly constituency in 2019 elections, Mr. Sriram advised the MP to first get his own name cleared in some serious cases in Kurnool district and then make remarks on others.
