VIJAYAWADA: Alleging that the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government had ruined all the irrigation projects in the State, TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh promised to link the Eluru canal with the Polavaram channel if the party returns to power in the next elections.
Villagers of Ampapuram in the Gannavaram Assembly constituency, in a memorandum submitted to Lokesh during his Yuva Galam Padayatra on Thursday, mentioned that the interlinking of the canals was initiated during the previous TDP regime and it even sanctioned Rs 15 crore for the purpose. Informing Lokesh that the YSRC government had shelved the project, they urged him to revive it, which will help solve the drinking and irrigation water problems in Eluru.
Mentioning that the Annamayya project was washed away as the YSRC government did not take up even maintenance of irrigation projects, Lokesh said it failed to spend even one-fourth of the total Rs 68,294 crore expended by the previous TDP regime on irrigation in the last four years.
Lokesh promised to pay adequate compensation to the displaced people of the Polavaram right bank canal in Bapulapadu Mandal soon after the TDP returned to power in the State. “Drinking water will be provided to every house and the TDP will certainly come to the rescue of the farming community by ensuring support price for all farm products,” he vowed.
Mild tension prevailed in the Gannavaram constituency when the YSRC cadre allegedly tore out banners set up by TDP workers welcoming Lokesh at Rangannagudem village in Bapulapadu Mandal.