KAKINADA: It is final. Andhra Pradesh will celebrate the State Formation Day on June 2.
Announcing this during his visit to Kakinada on Friday, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said the State Formation Day will be celebrated on June 2 though it is a sad day when the erstwhile Telugu state was divided into two.
He said though it might recall the bitter memories, the State Formation Day should be celebrated to show the world that we would grow even better.
After a long gap, Naidu took potshots at his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao during his visit to East Godavari district to participate in the May Day celebrations.
Days after KCR wondered why Andhra CM was still continuing in Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana, Naidu hit back by pointing out that Hyderabad is the common capital of the two states and it was because of him that it has emerged as the economic powerhouse that it is today.
Throwing another barb at KCR, Naidu said, “But for the TDP, KCR would have been a mere shepherd and not a politician.” Naidu also took exception to the lack of support from the Telangana government to address the issues arising out of bifurcation and hinted at involving the Centre in resolving the issues.
Naidu laid the foundation stone for various tourism projects worth `70 cr at Vakalapudi. The projects included development of Hope Island, Kakinada Beach and Konaseema Eco Tourism scheme. Later, he said the government had allotted Rs 400 cr for tourism sector this year.
Hope Island would be developed as an international tourist destination and already `18 cr worth works are under progress. The beach road between Kakinada and Visakhapatnam would also materialise soon along with inland waterway between Kakinada and Chennai.
Allaying doubts over the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation scheme, he said it was meant to integrate both Godavari and Krishna rivers and take care of not only Godavari and Krishna deltas, but also cater to the water needs of drought-prone Rayalaseema and make the state drought-free.
He said development is possible with industrial growth and appealed to farmers to come forward to give their lands for industries. The government is ready to pay suitable compensation for the lands, he added.