Pulivendula Assembly constituency, being represented by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, will be deprived of drinking and irrigation water if the Upper Bhadra project in Karnataka is completed, Rayalaseema Steering Committee chairman Byreddy Rajasekhara Reddy has said.
He was addressing a roundtable on the action plan to be executed by the people of Rayalaseema region to stop the Upper Bhadra Project, which has been given national project status recently, here on April 20 (Thursday).
Mr. Rajasekhara Reddy appealed to the people of the region to participate in Rayalaseema Kartavya Deeksha, scheduled to be organised at STBC College Ground on April 24 (Monday), to put pressure on the Centre and State government to ensure that the project is stopped. At the roundtable, leaders of various people’s organisations and students’ unions chalked out a plan for making the deeksha a success.
“The Upper Bhadra project will deprive the entire Rayalaseema region of its legitimate share of water,” he said. Expressing concern over the ‘silence’ of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his Telangana counterpart K. Chandrasekhar Rao over the issue, he said that both Telugu States would bear the brunt of the project.
He suggested that the Centre and State governments must construct a bridge-cum-barrage instead of a cable-stayed bridge at Siddeswaram, saying that it would contribute to the development of the people of Rayalaseema region.