VIJAYAWADA: The State Government's special representative in New Delhi Mallu Ravi has said that efforts are being made to bring all the Scheduled Caste (SC) communities in the State together to launch a united agitation for reservations in the private sector.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Dr. Ravi said that the two leading SC communities in the State suffered on account of being at loggerheads with each other for the last one decade. The Congress was now trying to bring them together and forge a united front to fight for reservations in the private sector. Dr. Ravi said he had already initiated talks with important leaders of both communities but would divulge the details later.

Timely action

He said even though floods ravaged the State, the Government was able to minimise the loss of life, property and standing crop by initiating timely action. The official machinery was given a free hand to work efficiently.

Dr. Ravi felt that the floods had made the need for more irrigation projects evident. As a lower riparian State, Andhra Pradesh would be able to use every drop of water before it went into the sea. The irrigation projects under construction would help make optimum use of the surplus water.

He regretted that the opposition parties were not playing the constructive role required of them. On the contrary, they were trying to create hurdles for the Government. Instead of instilling confidence in people of flood-affected areas, they were trying to provoke them, he alleged. Dr. Ravi charged the opposition parties with trying to tutor the governments of neighbouring States on how to raise objections to the irrigation projects proposed by Andhra Pradesh. Despite the efforts of the opposition parties, the State Government was all set to secure clearances for 25 of its projects. The report of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) would also be favourable to the State Government.

Opposition targeted

Dr. Ravi said political parties in Karnataka and Maharashtra always stood united to fight for clearance of irrigation projects, while political parties in Orissa were following suit. But for some strange reason, the opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh were opposing the projects.

They were creating doubts in the minds of people affected by flood about rehabilitation and resettlement (RR) package. They were provoking them to agitate, though the RR package of the State Government was better than that of the Central Government, Dr. Ravi said.

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