VIJAYAWADA: Could Praja Vedika, a pre-engineered structure razed down by the YSRC government calling it an illegal structure, have been entirely salvaged instead of demolishing most part of it? The answer seems to be yes.
Sources in the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) told TNIE that the authority had in deed contacted the contractor who built the structure. But, when the contractor, NCC Ltd, had informed that it would take some time to dismantle it, the authority took matters into its own hands to honour Chief Minister’s Jagan’s words that demolition would begin immediately after the Collectors’ Conference last month.
“When the contracting agency was asked, it first said it needed 45 days preparatory time and then another three months to dismantle the structure. But, the Chief Minister had already announced that the demolition would begin right after the conclusion of the meeting held there. So, we hired workers and machinery to demolish it,” a senior official explained.
The authority claimed that it was able to salvage `2 crore worth of the components, when it, in fact, could have saved most part of the entire structure, which was built only a year-and-a-half ago at a cost of `7.59 crore.
The fact that the YSRC government could have salvaged the entire structure was also raised by TDP MLA from Palakollu Nimmala Ramanaidu in the Assembly on Thursday. “It was a pre-engineered building and it could have been relocated by dismantling it in its entirety. But, the government, which keeps talking about financial problems, has razed down the structure built with taxpayers’ money. It wasted the public money instead of being careful,” he said in the House, even as the government defended its decision.