KURNOOL: In a unique protest, activists of the Rayalaseema Steering Committee visited the houses and offices of 52 MLAs and 8 MPs in Rayalaseema region on Sunday and submitted representations demanding construction of a bridge-cum-barrage on Krishna river at Siddeswaram instead of the proposed ‘iconic bridge’ to better safeguard the interests of the backward region. They also demanded the stoppage of Upper Badhra Project in Karnataka.
Hundreds of activists and leaders of the committee formed themselves into teams and visited every Assembly and Parliamentary segment in the region and approached available MLAs and MPs to make a representation. The teams pasted their representations on the doors of the offices and houses of the people’s representatives when they were not available.
Speaking on the occasion, committee convener Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy said they would meet Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to explain the situation.He said the iconic bridge will only serve as an object of tourism or it may become a good location for film shooting and it will not serve any other purpose particularly not protect the Rayalaseema region from drought.
If the bridge- cum-barrage is constructed, it will help meet the irrigation and drinking water needs of Rayalaseema people, he said and he added that there is scope to store 60-70 TMC of water at Siddeswaram, where the Centre proposed to construct the iconic bridge.
On Upper Bhadra project, Byreddy said if the project is completed by Karnataka, Rayalaseema region will not get even a single drop of surplus water. He demanded stoppage of the Bhadra project to safeguard Rayalaseema interests.