Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said on Sunday that the government’s intention behind inter-linking of rivers was to provide water security to the people who owed their existence to rivers. “My next priority is to link the Godavari River with Penna through the river Krishna. We completed the Pattiseema project against heavy odds and will work with the same spirit to link all rivers,” he asserted.
Addressing the media here after taking stock of the arrangements for Krishna Pushkaram and the pilgrim turnout, Mr. Naidu said while he strove for linking up the rivers, people should conserve water by storing it through different means.
“It is due to the blessings of the sacred rivers (in A.P) that people are happy and a concerted effort should be made to utilise every drop of water,” he observed.
Mr. Naidu expressed satisfaction with the Pushkaram arrangements and hoped that the crowds would swell further across the three districts – Krishna, Guntur and Kurnool.
The crowds were heavy in Vijayawada on Sunday morning and they had to be regulated on and off to prevent any mishap that would mar the festival.
At 1 p.m. on Sunday, the total count of pilgrims in the three districts since the beginning of Pushkaram stood at around 21.70 lakh. A total of 201 complaints were received and most of the problems were solved.
Tracking criminals
The Fingerprint Networking System (FINS) developed by Police Department was being used at a few places on an experimental basis to track criminals. It has a database of six lakh persons with a criminal history in A.P and Telangana.
From Sunday, smartphones would be given as prizes to 100 persons rendering the best services every day. Deputy Chief Minister N. Chinarajappa, Minister P. Narayana, Members of Parliament C.M. Ramesh and Kesineni Srinivas were present.
