Nellore: There was a mixed response from the people for the sops announced for Nellore district by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in the Assembly on Thursday. Although they welcomed the proposals for the district such as ind-ustrial corridors, electronic and hardware clusters, smart city and Krishnapatnam industrial node, there was an element of doubt among people in view of financial position of state.
“The TD men may believe the statement but not others. Where are the funds for these projects? It is a practice for Mr Naidu to make promises that are impossible to implement. People will appreciate if he keeps up half of the promises he made earlier,” a farmer J. Chandrasekhar Reddy of Duvvur said. An hotelier K. Deepak Reddy underlined the need to declare timeframe to implement each project while reminding that it took more than 15 years for Krishnapatnam port to commence operations.
Not only the general public, but also the former Tirupati MP, Dr Chinta Mohan, appears to have some reservations over the sops of the CM. He said that he will go ahead with his propo-sed agitation in favour of major port at Dugar-ajapatnam till it is established notwithstanding the CM’s statement in favour of the port. Chinta Mohan was responsible for the sanction of the port by the UPA Government at the fagend of its tenure in the Centre.
He decided to launch an agitation in a phased manner following reports over the possibility of shifting the port to Ramayapatnam in Prakasam district. When contacted, he ridiculed the statement of the Chief Minister while reminding that the project was sanctioned by the Centre and there is no role for the state government in the issue. Stressing that it is impossible for anyone to shift the port to any other place, he said the port proposal was mentioned along with Polavaram project in an ordinance passed in the Parliament by the previous government and no one can alter the same.
He said that he is launching agitation to bring pressure on the Centre which was delaying the project because of lobbying by some powerful people. The senior Congress leader said that he will go ahead with the “Satyagraha” programme as planned on October 2 at Tirupati and Nayudupeta. Meanwhile, Nellore MP Mekapati Rajamoh-an Reddy appealed to the state government to prevail upon the Centre to make use of 1,600 acres of railway land in Bitragunta to setup a railway project. He advised the state government to distribu-te development to all the districts and lay four lane highways from all districts of Rayalaseema to the new capital.
