Avoid bias tag, get National status for Pranahitha-Chevella: Gali

Senior TElugu Desam Party leader and MLA Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu on Saturday demanded that the state government push for getting the National Project status for the Pranahitha-Chevella irrigation projects along with the Polavarm irrigation project.

Talking to media persons at NTR Trust Bhavan on Saturday, Mr Muddukrishnama Naidu said that the onus is on the state government to push for getting the National Project status for the Pranahitha-Chevella Irrigation project if it wants to avoid getting tagged as being biased against the Telangana region.

The senior leader said that while it is almost a certainty that the Union government will grant the status of National project to any one of the two massive irrigation projects, (Polavaram and Pranahitha-Chevella), the state government should try to convince the Centre to accord equal importance to both the projects.

Mr Muddukrishnama Naidu lashed out at the Congress saying that the party came to power on the basis of making promises which it has failed to keep. He said that the government had claimed that it would complete 26 irrigation projects under the Jalayagnam project and also release funds for these, but so far, not a single project has been completed.

The senior TDP leader also demanded that state government release a ’White Paper’ on the present financial situation of the state, including the measures to implement the welfare schemes for the poor.

Mr Muddukrishnama Naidu further demanded that the government announce the Minimum Support Price for farmers since they were reeling under severe economic hardships.

The senior leader also criticized the government for agreeing to a hike in property tax in various Municipal Corporations in the state. “This is nothing but burdening the people further. The people are already reeling under high prices of commodities, and the government keeps on increasing the taxes,” he said.

The TDP Deputy Floor Leader also demanded that government make public the letter which was reportedly written by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.