Communist Party of India (Marxist) Andhra Pradesh secretary V. Srinivasa Rao has called for a protracted struggle to ensure the inclusion of Prakasam district in the list of seven backward districts under the State Reorganisation Act for special assistance.
Concluding the 300-km foot march by CPI(M) activists led by its Prakasam district secretary Sd. Hanif here on Saturday, he said it was unfortunate the district formed in 1970 by bringing together most backward parts of Kurnool, Nellore and Guntur districts remained backward even after five decades.
The Left parties would make the district’s backwardness the main poll issue during the coming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, he said and pressed for a special financial package of ₹10,000 crore for focused development of the district.
Big ticket projects like the Donakonda industrial corridor and National Manufacturing and Investment Zone(NIMZ) remained a non-starter as the ruling YSR Congress Party merely paid ‘‘lip service’‘ to the District development, he lamented.
He pressed for setting up of a Chilli market yard in western Prakasam for the benefit of farmers who grow the spice crop on a large extent of land. Only nine of the 38 mandals in the district had irrigation facilities, as successive Governments did not complete the major irrigation projects in the district, including the Veligonda project. It was unfortunate that the gates of the Gundalakamma reservoir, which developed a snag last year, had not been repaired at a time when the district was gripped by drought, he added.
Even While strongly condemning the ruling YSRCP for taking decisions unilaterally after suspending the opposition party MLAs from the State Assembly, he said it was wrong on the part of the opposition TDP to boycott the Assembly session. Non-issues got prominence while serious issues concerning the common people remained unaddressed in the State, he said and exhorted the people to launch a big agitation against the power tariff hike.
The issues concerning the common people were also sidelined by the ‘‘autocratic’‘ Narendra Modi Government at the Centre, which was allegedly toying with the idea of replacing the Parliamentary system of democracy with the Presidential system. This was at a time when people were struggling to make a living due to skyrocketing prices of all essential commodities due to the ‘‘wrong’‘ economic policies of the ‘‘corporate-friendly’‘ BJP-led Government at the Centre, he charged.
