KURNOOL: YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy on Saturday charged Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu with unleashing a publicity blitzkrieg and claiming credit for irrigation project works that had neared completion during the tenure of former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy inspected Pydipalem reservoir in Simhadripuram mandal of Kadapa district on the third day of his tour.
The Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Government had completed nearly 80 per cent of work on the Pydipalem reservoir and Mr. Naidu was claiming credit for the project by completing the remaining work, he remarked.
Rayalaseema would have become fertile had Mr. Naidu allocated ₹300 crore in 2014 and completed the pending works by now, the opposition leader said.
Allocation of ₹120 crore for disbursal of compensation would have facilitated storage of 45 tmc ft of water in the Pulichintala project and saved 55 tmc ft of water from flowing into the sea from Prakasam barrage, he said.
He sought an inquiry into the works executed on the Purushothapatnam project.
Ex gratia sought
Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy also accused the Chief Minister of diluting the ‘Chandranna Bima’ scheme.
Consoling the family members of the three shepherds who were fatally run over by an APSRTC bus, he said that the government was lax in paying ex gratia to the kin of those who died and compensation for the 150 head of cattle that perished in the accident.
He demanded that ₹5 lakh each be paid as ex gratia to the next of kin of the deceased and ₹7,000 as compensation for each sheep that had perished.
If the government failed to disburse ex gratia, the YSRC would move the court, he said.
