YSR Congress Party, on coming to power, will speed up the Veligonda project work and complete it to provide succour to the flouride-affected people of Prakasam district, former MP Y.V. Subba Reddy has said.
Tunnel work
Leading a 209-km padayatra on Wednesday from the drought-affected Kangiri to Pedda Dornala, coinciding with the Independence Day, Mr. Subba Reddy claimed that a major chunk of the project work had been completed during the period when Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was the Chief Minister, and the remaining would be completed by YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy soon after coming to power.
He questioned the sincerity of the TDP government in implementing the project, as less than 3 km of the tunnel drilling work had been completed in the last 4 years.
Ridiculing the TDP’s claim of completing the first phase of the project by Sankranti, Mr. Subba Reddy said, “Going by the current pace of work, people will have to wait for many more Sankarantis to get Krishna water if the TDP continues to be in power.”
The State government was changing the project contractor for the sake of kickbacks, he alleged while referring to the project cost going up from ₹5,150 crore to ₹8,300 crore.
Flagging off the walkathon along with Mr. Jagan’s political affairs adviser Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, former Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy said, “I will tonsure my head if the TDP government keeps its word of providing water from Veligonda by January 2019.”
MLA’s vow
The TDP, which had promised to complete the project in one year of assuming power, had been extending the deadline, Markapur MLA J. Venkat Reddy observed. “I will take political sanyas if the TDP completes the first phase of the project by Sankaranti,” he said.
