Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is not diverting the Godavari water to the Krishna river wantonly, which is putting the farmers in the Krishna delta at risk, alleges TDP Sattenapalli Assembly Constituency in-charge and former Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana.
Addressing the media at his residence here on July 20 (Thursday), Mr. Lakshminarayana lashed out at the Chief Minister for not making use of the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation project to divert the water from the Godavari to the Krishna, particularly when the Polavaram irrigation project was not yet completed.
He said that former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had built the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation project to cater to the needs of the farmers across the districts until completion of the Polavaram project. “Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy is deliberately not using the lift irrigation project to avoid giving credit to Mr. Naidu,” he said.
“If Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy brings the Godavari water, which is now flowing into the sea, to the Krishna by using Pattiseema, the people of the Krishna Delt stand to gain. The farmers can get sufficient water through canals for irrigating crops. Despite knowing the fact that the people of the region are suffering due to lack of water during the kharif season, the Chief Minister is not acting properly, only because of his political vested interests,” the TDP leader said.
It was not proper for the Chief Minister to do injustice to the farmers for his political gains, Mr. Lakshminarayana said, and demanded that the government divert the excess water from the Godavari to the Krishna using Pattiseema. He further observed that the Palnadu district too was starving for water.
The TDP leader further alleged that the local MLA and Minister for Water Resources Ambati Rambabu had failed to lay a 500-feet road to the Kendriya Vidyalaya in Sattenapalli, which forced the parents and students to think of laying a road themselves instead of depending on the government.
Referring to the ganja menace in Sattenapalli, Mr. Lakshminarayana urged Director General of Police K.V. Rajendranadh Reddy to take immediate action on the peddlers.
