NELLORE: Though the BJP has been intensifying its stir demanding allocation of land for Dugarajapatnam port, the YSR Congress has chalked out a plan demanding construction of Ramayapatnam port.
Recently, the YSRC formed a committee consisting of Kavali MLA Ramireddy Pratap Kumar Reddy and other local leaders to get Ramayapatnam port for the all round development of the region. YSRC leader and former MLA Vanteru Venugopal Reddy staged a protest demanding construction of Ramayapatnam port at Kavali.
Basically, the movement started from Kavali constituency, which is close to the proposed Ramayapatnam port and now district-level TDP leaders like MLC B Ravichandra, his brother and senior leader Beeda Mastan Rao, Vanteru Venugopala Reddy, Vijaya Dairy Chairman K Ranga Reddy, leaders from Prakasam like Karanam Balaram, Divi Sivaram, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, Kanigiri MLA K Baburao, and others met for mounting pressure on the State and Central governments for preparing plan of action.
This is a typical situation where the BJP and Congress are demanding immediate construction of Dugarajapatnam, while others have now shifted the focus to Prakasam district for Ramayapatnam port.
In fact, Dugarajapatnam port with an estimated cost of `8,000 crore for the first stage was approved by the UPA government in 2013 and the project has been put on backburner.The port project needs around 5,000 acres of land. Officials have already acquired around 4,150 acres. The initial plan was to develop the port with a capacity of 7.8 million tonnes by 2020 and expand the capacity to 10.7 million tonnes by 2025 and 20 million tonnes by 2035.
As was being criticised by the politicians, there was an indication that the State government was not showing interest on setting up Dugarajapatnam port. The BJP leaders also intensified their stir and are staging protests in the city for the port project.
Meanwhile, there has been demand for Ramayapatnam port by the YSRC leaders in Kavali region which is expected to create avenues to the local youth, besides developing the area. The different stand taken by the two parties on the construction of ports, is confusing the people.
“We have formed a committee to achieve Ramayapatnam port for development of the backward region of Prakasam and also Kavali areas in Nellore district. We would intensify our stir if the government failed to start construction of Ramayapatnam port,” said Vanteru Venugopal Reddy.