VIJAYAWADA: Though Chief Minister Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy made it clear that the fixing of water meters to domestic taps was inevitable for development of the city, Vijayawada East MLA Vangaveeti Radhakrishna, said that 99 per cent of the citizens whom he met during his mass contact programme "Meekosam-Meevente" told him that they do not want water meters. There was no point in comparing Vijayawada with Hyderabad or Visakhapatnam, which had to spend money for getting water.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday the MLA said, the situation in Vijayawada was similar to that of Rajahmundry, located on the banks of Godavari.

Mr. Radhakrishna said that he could not explain the situation to the Chief Minister when he came to the city on February 10 because of the rush, but the issue was not over as far as he was concerned. The MLA said that he would take up the issue with the Chief Minister when he gets the opportunity during the Budget session. Asked about the conditions placed by funding agencies, like JNNURM, the MLA said, the State Government should reject conditions that put the public to inconvenience. Congress opposed the conditions made by the World Bank because they created of problems for the people and the party should do the same with the conditions put forward by the JNNURM.

Infighting

Asked to comment on the reported complaint made to the Chief Minister by MP Lagadapati Rajagopal about infighting in the Congress, the MLA brushed it off saying "we are not school children" to complain against one another. He said he conducted a mass contact programme in the 22 divisions that were located in his Assembly constituency from Jan. 26.

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