VIJAYAWADA: In what could be seen as a step towards resolving long pending inter-state issues with Odisha, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will meet his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday and discuss the dispute on Kotia villages, apart from taking up construction of Neradi barrage on Vamsadhara and completion of Janjhavathi project.
The Chief Minister held a preparatory meeting with officials at his camp office Monday on the agenda to be discussed with Naveen Patnaik. The Chief Minister will explain the need to construct Neradi barrage on Vamsadhara to his Odisha counterpart, which will benefit both the states. The officials informed the Chief Minister that 103 acres of land is required from Odisha to construct the barrage and of which 67 acres of land is a riverbed area. About 5,000 acres in Odisha will get irrigation water with the construction of the barrage, they said.
With respect to the Janjhavathi project, they told Jagan that irrigation water is now being provided only to 5,000 acres of the total area of 24,640 acres through a rubber dam. The completion of the reservoir project will benefit farmers of North Coastal Andhra. Four villages will be submerged completely and six villages partially under the project.
In Odisha, 1,174 acres of land will be submerged. Of the total submerged area, 875 acres is government land. Jagan will request Naveen Patnaik to cooperate in Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) of the project oustees, which helps expedite its construction.The officials apprised the Chief Minister of recent developments in the disputed Kotia villages. Vizianagaram District Collector A Suryakumari said people of 16 of the total 21 villages have decided to be with Andhra Pradesh.
Local body elections were also held in those villages. Nearly 87% of people in Kotia villages are tribals and there should be no hindrance in delivery of services to them, the Collector said. Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, DGP Gautam Sawang, Home Secretary Kumar Vishwajit, Water Resources Secretary J Shyamala Rao, Water Resources Department ENC Narayana Reddy and other officials were present.
Meanwhile, Peedika Rajanna Dora, MLA of Saluru in Vizianagaram district, hailed Jagan’s initiative to resolve the long-pending inter-state issues with Odisha. “We hope that the Kotia village dispute and obstacles to completion of Janjhavathi project will be resolved during the meeting between the two Chief Ministers,” he said.
Focus on completion of Janjhavathi project
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will urge his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik to cooperate with AP in Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) of the project oustees, which helps speed up construction of Janjhavathi as ryots of two states will benefit from it.