VIJAYAWADA: Stating that the State government is pro-farmer, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Botcha Satyanarayana said the government would honour the promises made by the previous regime to the farmers of the capital region. He allayed the fears of farmers, who have been up in arms for the last few days amid speculation that the YSRC government would relocate the capital, assuring them that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy would always protect the interests of farmers.
Botcha, however, skirted the question if other projects in the entire 33,000 acres procured for the capital city would be taken up.“Government is a continuous process. We are a pro-farmer government,” he said, in a press meet at the Secretariat in Velagapudi on Tuesday. He quickly added that the administration would continue exposing the irregularities committed by the previous dispensation.
When quizzed if his government would take up development in the entire region, as planned by the previous TDP government, he skirted the question and said, “We will have our own priorities.” The minister added that the probe into insider trading and other irregularities was going on and that an appropriate decision would be taken later.
Botcha slammed the previous Chandrababu Naidu government for calling tenders for about `30,000 crore worth works just before the elections. “Without any plan to pool finances for the works, they invited tenders. How can the government manage without a plan? In the name of technology, they hired so many consultants and firms by paying hefty amounts. Technology should be used to bring down the cost, not to escalate it,” he remarked.
Botcha also slammed the TDP for trying to create uncertainty among the farmers. “All I said was that the previous government ignored Sivaramakrishnan Committee recommendations. They are just trying to politicise the issue,” he claimed.