YSR Congress Party’s Anantapur Parliamentary constituency in charge Talari Rangaiah has threatened to lodge a complaint with the National Green Tribunal if work on a public garden with some permanent structures in the middle of the Penna is not stopped immediately.
At a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Rangaiah said large-scale work was in progress on the Penna’s dry riverbed close to Tadipatri, but municipal officials and the Tourism Department are not objecting to it despite the risk of inundation of surrounding areas during the monsoon.
Mr. Rangaiah said the State government and various departments were not concerned about the protection of the environment and said construction of the park would alter the natural course of the river.
“The project being taken up on the riverbed is against the Supreme Court’s directives and a textile park in the upstream of the river at Pamidi could not be grounded as environmental clearance was not issued as it was located just a kilometre away from the river and was blocking a small stream,” Mr. Rangaiah said.
‘Why officials silent?’
“If the rules were so stringent, how come the State government and its officials from various departments allowed such a project to be grounded,” Mr. Rangaiah questioned.
Showing photographs of the work in progress in 30 acres of the dry riverbed, he said it was surprising that the Tadipatri Municipal Commissioner and the A.P. Tourism Development officers did not object to the project and were instead of the opinion that the river would never inundate the garden area.
