Kadapa steel plant: Cops foil MLC’s fast, MPs return empty-handed
VIJAYAWADA: On a day when a delegation of TDP MPs met Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh and returned without getting any positive assurance from the Centre over setting up of a steel plant in Kadapa district, the Kadapa police foiled the indefinite hunger strike being observed by TDP MLC BTech Ravi as his health condition turned grim.
Police forcibly shifted Ravi to RIMS amid stiff resistance from the TDP activists as his health condition deteriorated on the eighth day of his fast. However, party MP CM Ramesh continued his hunger strike.
The TDP activists raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading to a tense situation for some time at the fast camp. Earlier in the morning, RIMS doctors N Sashidhar and T Giridhar examined the fasting leaders and sent a report to the district collector expressing concern over the health condition of the MP and MLC.
Human Resource Development Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao who was sent by the Chief Minister to meet the fasting leaders, discussed the health condition of the MP and MLC with Collector Ch Harikiran, SP A Babujee, RIMS Director N Sashidhar and Superintendent T Giridhar at the R&B guest house. The doctors told the minister that MP Ramesh was fit to continue his fast for another two days but the condition of Ravi was serious. “If immediate treatment is not provided, he may face threat to his life,” the doctors told the minister.
In Delhi, the MPs met the Union Minister and insisted that the Centre come up with a time-bound assurance but they failed to get any response. The minister told the delegation that he needed some more clarifications on some issues for setting up a steel plant. The TDP MPs reminded Birender Singh of the deteriorating health condition of Ramesh and Ravi and how emotions of people in the State were running high. Stating that agitations were launched in different parts of the State raising concerns over law and order problems, the MPs demanded that he give an assurance that a steel plant would be established in Kapada with a time-bound roadmap.
However, Birender Singh just confined himself to say that setting up of steel plants in Kadapa as well as in Telangana was not a closed chapter. He said the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court was in connection with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL). “The task force constituted one and half year ago is still on the job and the question of closing the exercise on setting up of steel plants will not arise,” he said.
MECON was given the responsibility of dealing with all kinds of logistic support. “We are hopeful that both AP and Telangana have already given replies to all the questions except on two issues like land and linkage and once getting the answers the task force will submit its report and we will proceed further to build a plant in Kadapa,’’ he said.
However, as the minister did not give a specific assurance on setting up of an integrated steel plant in Kadapa as promised in the AP Reorganisation Act, the TDP MPs decided to continue their agitation against the Centre. Speaking to media persons after meeting the Steel Minister, Machilipatnam MP Konakalla Narayana said, “From the State government side, we assured all cooperation and support, but still the minister failed to give a specific and time-bound programme for setting up a steel plant in Kadapa. The State has clearly given the replies to questions raised by the Centre. We are disappointed over the statement the minister gave. We will intensify our agitation.”Back in Vijayawada, IT Minister Nara Lokesh said they had submitted all the reports sought by the Centre and blamed the NDA government for the delay.
CM takes dig at the Centre
During a teleconference with the MPs and leaders, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed unhappiness over the Centre raising two more queries after the party launching an agitation for the steel plant. Stating that the 87 million tonnes of iron ore available in the lands will be allocated for the steel plant, Naidu said that as three more iron mines will come by 2020. “Though 150 million tonnes of ore is enough for setting up a steel plant, we have 116 million tonnes of ore,” he said. Stating that he will write another letter to the Steel Minister, the CM directed the MPs to submit the same to the Union minister on Thursday.