Andhra Pradesh - Tirupati   

Telugu Ganga water for Chittoor: State may seek Central funds

TIRUPATI: There is an apparent second thought on the government’s decision to siphon off Rs.170 crore from the TTD coffers to meet 50 per cent cost of the Rs.340-crore scheme recently launched by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy to take Telugu Ganga water from the Kandaleru reservoir via Tirupati and Chandragiri to the district headquarters town of Chittoor, 65 km from here.

Besides meeting the needs of the water-starved Chittoor town, the scheme also envisages providing drinking water to about 130 villages en route. While launching the scheme, it was announced that the TTD would share 50 per cent of the cost of the work while the remaining 50 per cent would be shared equally by the State and Srinivasa Trust being run by Chittoor MP and the TTD Trust Board Chairman D.K. Adikesavulu.

The government’s decision to make TTD cough-up Rs.170 crore from its funds for a scheme with which it was not even remotely connected has predictably evoked sharp criticism from the BJP and other Sangh Parivar organisations on the ground that besides hurting the religious sentiments of devotees, it would also violate the provisions of the TTD Act that the Devasthanam funds should not be used for non-religious and secular purposes. There were also murmurs within the TTD staff unions and camps of opposition parties about the matter. It is in this context that Mr. Adikesavulu, along with the Tirupati Member of Parliament Chintha Mohan and the TTD top-brass is reportedly planning to lead a delegation to Delhi to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek Central assistance to a tune of Rs.170 crore, the sum originally proposed to be drawn from the TTD coffers. The delegation is likely to visit Delhi in the first week of November after a formal resolution to this effect at the TTD Board meeting scheduled here on October, 25.

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