VIJAYAWADA:Taking serious exception to chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu deciding to have his residence on the bank of river Krishna, the CPM CRDA area unit on Saturday wanted to know how a leader who had to set an example to others could live in a mansion which had been constructed in violation of the River Conservancy Act, 1984 which prohibited constructions that impeded the flow of river waters.
Speaking to newsmen here, CPM CRDA area unit convener Ch Babu Rao said that as the CM had chosen to live in the two-storeyed mansion, the irrigation department had given NOC, knowing fully well that the building had been constructed illegally. As the NOC could not be given for permanent structures, the one that had been given related to the swimming pool on the premises of the house.
Recalling irrigation minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao’s statement on the New Year’s Day that action would be taken against those who owned permanent structures on the river bank, Babu Rao wondered if the minister would be able to take action against the owner of the mansion in which the Chief Minister wanted to live.
He said if the government had allowed the mansion, the same consideration should be given to the farmers from whom land had been taken away forcibly under the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS). “Can there be one rule for the chief minister and another for the common man?” Babu Rao asked and wanted to know why the land of the big shots had been exempted from the LPS and why only the land of those who had no influence had been taken.
He said the building which the CM wanted to use as his residence belonged to a person named Lingamaneni Ramesh in survey nos: 272/2 and 271 in an area of 1.2 acre and this one happened to be one of the 65 illegal constructions that had come up both the banks of the Krishna river.