Lok Satta Party president Jayaprakash Narayan applauded TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao for describing the Pranahita-Chevella lift irrigation scheme as one that was meant to take the Telagnana people for a ride.
Addressing a media conference here on Saturday, he said that for the last four years, Lok Satta had tried to convince those in the government and outside that the project was ill-conceived. Yet leaders of the Congress, TDP and YSR Cong have been hoodwinking people, demanding its implementation.
He said the project would be a financial disaster since at the present estimate, it would cost `40,000 crore and by the time the project reaches the implementation stage, the cost would escalate. The government would have to spend `30,000 per acre every year on maintenance and operation of the lift irrigation system, not to mention the cultivation costs incurred by farmers.
He said that the mainstream parties were promising more and more freebies forgetting the fact that the state had not been able to fulfil its basic duties.