Srikakulam: Lack of coordination among various departments in acquiring land for the prestigious Vamsadhara Project and the resultant delay has prompted Joint Collector M. Veerabrahmaiah to recall the folklore of `a princeling and seven fish', which is a classic example of passing on the buck, and exhort officials to be proactive and complete all formalities by December 10.

The Chief Minister would review the progress of the project on December 15 by which time we should complete all work, Mr. Veerabrahamaiah said while reviewing the progress of land acquisition on Tuesday.

Some 2,300 acres of land was yet to be acquired for the Phase-II of the Stage-II of the project, the Joint Collector said, adding that money had never been a problem for the purpose. In fact, the amount required was released in April itself, he pointed out and reminded officials that irrigation projects should be completed in a time-bound manner. Money sanctioned for the purpose should not be retained, he added.

`No poll code'

Pressure should be brought on inactive departments, he said, asking the project's executing agency to commence work and keep lax departments on their toes. Election code would not be coming in the way of works of on-going projects, Mr. Veerabrahamaiah said.

He said that once the district level negotiations committee meeting was held and the award was passed, farmers would not be losing anything because of the delay since an interest of 9 per cent would be paid to them.

The Joint Collector wanted officials to be liberal in case of tribal lands. Superintending Engineer (Irrigation) K. Sudheer, Revenue Divisional Officer (Palakonda) P.M.J. Babu, Special Deputy Collectors heading LA units and Mandal Revenue Officers attended the meeting.

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