Students under the aegis of the Andhra Pradesh Students and Youth Joint Action Committee staged ‘Jala Deeksha’ at the sleepy coastal village of Ramayapatnam urging the Centre that an announcement should be made in the ongoing Budget session changing the location of the Central port sanctioned to the State from Dugarajapatnam to Ramayapatnam.
Leading the protest at the seashore, APSYJAC State president Rayapatti Jagadeesh said instead of putting the ball in the State’s court, the Union government should on its own make an announcement immediately in Parliament.
The students raised slogans demanding port-led development to create jobs for local youth.
The State had missed out on various fronts after bifurcation. The delay in finalisation of the site for the second major Central port in the State would only aggravate the already ‘distressing situation’, they felt.
They found fault with the State government for not giving its consent for the change of port location after the Centre reportedly found Dugarajapatnam in neighbouring Nellore district technically unfeasible and economically unviable and asked the State government to name an alternative site.
