The alleged shifting of horticulture research centre from Anakapalle to Pulivendula in Kadapa will be strongly opposed by the TDP and farmers of North Andhra, said former Minister and TDP leader Ayyanna Patrudu.
Addressing the media here on Saturday, he said that the centre was opened by the then TDP government at Anakapalle and was closed by the YSRCP government. They are now trying to set up the same at Pulivendula, he said.
He questioned the decision of the government to close the centre for the sake of opening it at Pulivendula. He demanded that the centre be continued in Anakapalle and its shifting will be opposed.
“We are not against a centre coming up elsewhere, but why close an existing one,” he said.
Coming down heavily on Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao, he said, “Why is the Minister keeping quiet now. When he was MP of Anakapalle while in TDP, he welcomed the initiative of former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in starting the centre. He knows that it benefited the farming community in North Andhra, but now he remains silent.” Giving credit for development of horticulture and agriculture in this part of the State to Mr. Naidu, he said that it was the former CM who started the centre in Anakapalle and also the floriculture centre at Chintapalli. “He then allotted ₹17 crore for the floriculture centre and today it grows apples. The YSRCP is bent on finishing the farming community with its policies,” he said.
He said that it was Mr. Naidu who initiated the Babu Jagjeevana Ram Uttarandhra Sujala Sravanthi project with an allocation of about ₹ 2,400 crore. But today, there is no progress, he said.
He said the funds, which were spent on painting government buildings, should have been utilised for construction of the project.
He alleged that the suspended anaesthetist of Narsipatnam Area Hospital Sudhakar Rao was shifted to government hospital for mental care as per recommendation of the KGH. But now they are trying to cover it up saying that he had gone on his own.
The doctors in the hospitals are under tremendous pressure, as the government is trying to make them sing to their tune under duress.
He said there was nothing wrong if Dr. Sudhakar Rao met him, as many come to meet him.
Former MLAs Peela Govind, Vangalapudi Anitha and Gavireddi Ramanaidu, and TDP SC cell president Putcha Vijaya Kumar were present.
