KURNOOL: YSR Congress party president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy arrived in Kurnool on Tuesday where he assured the stone polishing units in Betamcherla town that the royalty rates would be brought down. Mr Jagan said that he was confident of winning 130 seats in the next general elections if he receives the same response from public. He said no section of society was happy with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, adding that he was “happy with the Yatra undertaken so far.”
Addressing a gathering at Betamcherla town, the stronghold of Dhone MLA Buggana Rajender Reddy, Mr Jagan said that his priority was to create better health infrastructure in the state. Reviving the super popular Arogyasri scheme of his late father Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, he mimicked the sound of an ambulance as ushering in the Rajanna Rajyam. Covering all ailments including cancer and kidney diseases and paying a pension to patients were on his agenda. He said, “cancer, heart and kidney treatment are expensive; Chandrababu Naidu’s government does not care about your health. Will ensure free surgery and procedure for every disease. YSRCP will reimburse kidney replacement expenses and increase pension to patients to Rs 10,000.”
He also vowed to fill the tanks built by medieval king of Vijayanagara, Krishandevaraya and irrigate the fields in Rayalaseema. He reminded Mr Naidu of setting up of a Mining University in Dhone.
Jagan to see bridges built across Krishna in Kurnool district:
Elected representatives of Kurnool district failed to pursue the construction of a bridge across River Krishna in Kurnool district to connect Andhra and Telangana states that would have helped to avoid several boat tragedies. The demand for constructing the Siddeswaram bridge has been gaining credence in view of the recent boat tragedy in Vijayawada but the biggest roadblock is political interference.
Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy was approached by villagers from Nandikotkur to take up the work on the bridge promised and sanctioned by his father. Mr Jagan was moved by the appeal and said he would take up the issue, the villagers said. When Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy was chief minister of combined Andhra Pradesh, he even sanctioned funds for the construction of the bridge but due to political reasons even after the formation of the new state, there is no progress. People of both the Nandikotkur and Srisailam constituencies cross the river by boats and ferries to reach the other end of the Krishna which lies in Kollapur, Alampur and Nagar Kurnool areas of Telangana state.
People demand the construction of Siddeswaram bridge to avoid boat tragedies in Krishna river which would connect Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states. The construction works relating to the bridge over River Krishna in the border district of Mahbubnagar remained on paper. There is no sign of executing the work anywhere in the district even after a decade although 61 persons have drowned near Nehrunagar in Kurnool district in 2007.
The then CM Y.S.R promised people of the region that a bridge would be constructed and even performed a bhoomi puja in 2008. The government also released Rs 50 crore under the first phase. However, due to the Telangana agitation, the construction work was kept on the backburner. The people of the district were critical of the government for its lack of sincerity and commitment to complete the bridge. Although the plan to construct the bridge through the highway of Nandyal to Hyderabad was ready, the government was influenced not to implement the plan. It would improve the business and social relations between two districts, Gumpula Venkateswarlu, seed business man of Nandikotkur town said. As it is an open secret that the rulers are interested in completion of the bridge, the people have lost hope on the bridge and they continued their journey on boats risking their lives.
