Kurnool: When Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu visits Kurnool on Saturday to lay the foundation stone for three irrigation projects worth Rs 8,147 crore, this could probably be his last visit to Kurnool as the Chief Minister in this current 2014-2019 term since election code is scheduled to kick any time now.
Meanwhile the people of Kurnool will watch in dismay at the laying of yet another set of foundations in the long list laid earlier, as most of his promises made on August 2014, at Konda Reddy Burj, still remain non-starters.
Joining the list of projects on Saturday would be the Vedavathi lift irrigati-on scheme (Rs 1942 crore), the Rajolibanda right main canal (Rs 1985 crore) and the Gundrevul reservoir (Rs 2880 crore) plus the proposed pipeline of TBP LLC, extending from 72 km to 185 km (Rs 1300 crore).
YSRC leader and public accounts committee chairman Buggana Rajender Reddy said that it was appalling to note that the Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister K.E. Krishnamurthy never took the development of the district seriously. He said except for Orvakallu airport which is still not operational, Mr Naidu had done nothing for Kurnool.
YSRC leader Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy said foundation stones laid by Mr Naidu were stark reminders of the government’s apathy in ameliorating the cause of the drought-hit Kurnool district.
Parliamentary in-charge of YSRC in Kurnool B.Y. Ramaiah said that Naidu has simply put the development clock backwards and lost precious five yea-rs over nothing. He said after making promises at Konda Reddy Burj in 2014, Naidu had spent Rs 2500 crore on Godavari Pushk-aralu and Rs 3000 crore on Krishna which yielded no tangible benefit. If he had spent Rs 2000 crore on Gundrevula in 2014-15, it could now have yielded good fruits, he opined. Mr Krishnamurthy, district in-charge minister A. Achannaidu had promised this would be done within one year.
“There were plenty of promises made by the CM during the Independence Day celebration of 2014, which were grandly held at Kurnool after the division of the state. However, there is no change in Kurnool and the problems continue, be it developme-nt-related or others,” said K. Giridhar Rao, a senior citizen.
The slogan ‘Babu coming to give jobs’ did not take off as the governme-nt failed to take the initiative and create job opportunities said an unemployed resident M. Rajas-ekar. The real estate business has also dipped due to non-development in the district, said S. Abdul Rajak, a realtor.
Real estate businessmen had purchased several acres of lands at Orvakal and had also started several ventures with hundreds of plots but they have not sold them, he added.
The CM had laid the foundation stone to construct a textile park in Yammiganur but there were no funds forthcoming and till date, not a single bit of work has started in this connection, S. Govindappa, one of the weavers, criticised.
"The District Collector and other officials just visited Orvakal several times and had shown the land and given statements which were not useful to the people", said Mr G Venkataswami, a Nannur villager.
