YSR \'Dhana Yagnam\' blamed for crest gate collapse

VISAKHAPATNAM:  TDLP deputy leader Nimmala Ramanaidu on Friday blamed the state government’s poor maintenance of a crest gate at Pulichintala irrigation project getting washed away in this week’s Krishna River floods.

Ramanaidu said that the government and the irrigation minister did not bother to ensure flood cushion maintenance works, which eventually led to the collapse of the gate and the river wastefully flowing into the sea. It was a sheer betrayal of the farmers that the Jagan Mohan Reddy regime was ignoring the maintenance and operation of the irrigation projects as per the prescribed norms.

TD leaders refuted allegations made by YSRC on the Pulichintala gate issue and reminded that the Pulichintala project was constructed during the regime of Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.

Former minister Kaluva Srinivasulu, addressing the media, said YSRC was trying to rub-off the blame on TDP for Pulichintala while it was the ‘dhana yagnam’ of YSR family that was responsible for sub-standard works at the project.

He said even though TD demanded 35 crest gates on Pulichintala, YSR reduced it to 24 and thereby caused a grave error.

Senior leaders Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy, K.E. Prabhakar, Gouru Venkata Reddy, Somisetty Venkateswarlu, and others visited Handri Neeva Sujala Sravanthi pump house near Malyala village. They demanded safety measures across major projects like Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar dam.