No permission for Pawan Kalyan and JS to carry out repairs on Dowleswaram Barrage
KAKINADA: The irrigation department has refused permission to Jana Sena chief and cine star Pwan Kalyan and his team for carrying out voluntary repairs to the road on the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowleswaram on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti Day.
The Jana Sena has decided to organise a demonstration, expressing concern over the poor condition of roads in the state and they chose to zero in on the barrage which is in a pathetic condition. The JS men want to fill up the potholes on the road and sought permission from officials to do this, but permission has not been granted.
The department’s Dowleswaram circle superintendent engineer Rambabu told Deccan Chronicle that the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage is not a National Highway or under the Roads and Building department or a Panchayat Road. He said it is a barrage of River Godavari and the farmers are allowed to transport their produce but heavy vehicles are not allowed on it.
“If a large number of people gather on the barrage, it may cause damage to it. There are heavy flows underneath the barrage and it is only a maintenance road to the barrage. It is technically inadvisable to hold agitations or mob-gathering there.”
But Jana Sena political affairs committee member Pantham Venkateswara Rao said he has learnt that officials are attending to the road now. “If this is true, the Jana Sena has succeeded in this agitation and the party would take up a similar action programme on another road. Unless repairs are carried out on the barrage before October 2, Jana Sena would organise the agitation as is announced.”
Meanwhile, the Jana Sena activists obstructed the convoy of information and culture minister Perni Venkataramayya at Tanuku. Nani visited Vayyeru canal, which was overflowing and caused inundation of several villages and agriculture fields during recent cyclone Gulab rains.
When he was returning, Jana Sena Tanuku leader Ramesh and his followers waylaid the convoy and sought an unconditional apology from the minister for his alleged abusing of their leader Pawan Kalyan. The police intervened, took away the Jana Sena activists and cleared the path for the minister’s convoy.
