About ten leaders of Rayalaseema on Saturday released open letters to various parties that would contest the coming elections in Andhra Pradesh asking them to spell out their stand on how they propose to bring Greater Rayalaseema back on track after it suffered huge losses on account of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
The letters were addressed to Telugu Desam president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Leader of Opposition and YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, A.P. Congress president N. Raghuveera Reddy, Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan and BJP State president Kanna Laxminarayana. “The parties must explain their stand in their respective election manifesto,” the group, identifying itself as a watchdog to protect the interests of Greater Rayalaseema, told a press conference here.
It included former Home Minister M.V. Mysoora Reddy, former police officer of the rank of Director General of Police C. Anjaneya Reddy, former Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh Ajeya Kallam, former High Court judge Justice P. Lakshmana Reddy and a couple of former MLAs.
They said Greater Rayalaseema, comprising Chittoor, Kadapa, Anantapur, Kurnool, Nellore and Prakasam, had suffered irreparable loss on account of bifurcation of the State but, ignoring the region, the State government focussed on development around Amaravathi.
The government had announced a plan in the Assembly in December 2014 that it proposed to implement a decentralised model of development for the entire State by a network of three mega cities and fourteen smart cities. However, development was confined to Amaravathi where, apart from Assembly, Secretariat, directorates of departments and High Court, land parcels were allotted to setting up of Central, State and private institutions.
Arogyasri scheme
They said the government also withdrew Arogyasri health insurance for poor in hospitals in Hyderabad with a view to benefit hospitals around Amaravathi.
Water from Godavari was diverted to irrigate 20 lakh acres of land around Amaravathi under Pattiseema and Chintalapudi phase-II projects with an expenditure running into lakhs of crore rupees. About one hundred tmc ft of Krishna water from left and right canals of Nagarjunasagar was saved by the diversion from Godavari. The government had announced that the water thus saved would be used to irrigate land in Greater Rayalaseema. But it issued orders without any financial commitment for completion of Galeru-Nagari, Hundri-Neeva and Velugonda projects, which serviced Greater Rayalseema, they added.
The government had not even notified Amaravathi as a free zone for public employment to help youth from Greater Rayalaseema find jobs there.
