Pollution being caused by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust tops the list of problems of contestants from the Visakha South Assembly constituency.
At a face-to-face programme organised by the Vizag Journalists’ Forum here on Thursday, sitting MLA Dronamraju Satyanarayana of the Congress, Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar of the Telugu Desam and two-time corporator Chintapalli Pothuraju of the Jai Samaikyandhra Party spoke mostly on pollution and the severe problems it was causing to the people of the constituency. Fishermen were facing many problems, they said.
Mr. Pothuraju and Mr. Ganesh Kumar also spoke about the lack of amenities and alleged that officials and people’s representatives were not showing concern for the people. Mr. Ganesh Kumar said the constituency was turned into a trash can. He wanted a representative from Kotaveedhi, the most affected part, as a member on AP Pollution Control Board and VPT. Development was welcome but not at the cost of fishermen and people, he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mr. Srinivasa Rao, while replying to the charges made by Mr. Ganesh Kumar, who had left the programme after making his points, and highlighting the many works he had done in the constituency, said effective steps were taken to control pollution and after construction of berths and taking more steps, the pollution would come down drastically.
He charged Mr. Ganesh Kumar of not knowing the facts and frequently reminded that Mr. Pothuraju as a corporator (when he was in the Congress before joining YSR Congress and later JSP) was aware that many programmes have been implemented and he had launched or inaugurated some in his ward. Mr. Srinivasa Rao also threw a challenge that he would withdraw from the contest even a Telugu Desam corporator said he did not perform well or not got things done.