The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : TDP, BJP stand on projects flayed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 05, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

TDP, BJP stand on projects flayed

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) has accused the Telugu Desam Party and the BJP of adopting "anti-projects stand'' to the detriment of the State and launching a politically motivated campaign against irrigation projects.

Releasing a progress report on the Government's performance in the irrigation sector, the secretary of the CLP, E. Pratap Reddy, at a press conference here on Wednesday, asked the TDP to explain its "anti-development" and "anti-farmer" stand.

The irrigation sector had suffered the biggest blow under the TDP rule and realising the damage it had done to the rural economy, the Congress Government had launched a massive `Jala Yagnam' to develop 65 lakh acres of additional ayacut in the State.

Dismal show

Alleging that there was a downward slide in investments in the irrigation sector when TDP was at the helm, he said the Congress rule had ensured a 24.56 per cent increase rate compared to the 12.63 per cent budgetary allocation of the TD Government. As a result not a single sowing season witnessed sufficient water releases to the crops during its rule, he said.

The Congress had never tried to stall work on irrigation projects, he said. On the contrary, the TDP had made efforts to vehemently oppose works.

157 packages

The Congress Government had allotted 157 packages under the EPC system out of which 68 packages were in Telangana costing Rs. 12, 994 crores to develop 21.10 lakh acres of new ayacut.

Rayalaseema to gain

Likewise Rayalaseema would add 10.89 lakh acres of new ayacut because of the 43 irrigation works allotted to it. In addition, 28 lakh acres would be stabilised on completion of the Dummagudem, Ichampally and Sripadasagar projects, he said. The two major tasks that the Congress Government had undertaken was utilising Godavari waters and stabilising the Krishna ayacut both of which were not to the liking of the TD, he argued.

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Andhra Pradesh