Polavaram Project: Nara Lokesh slams YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for delay in works

Chinturu Agency: TDP national general secretary and MLC Nara Lokesh demanded that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy should explain to the people why his government failed to fulfil his promise to complete the State's lifeline irrigation project of Polavaram by June 2021.

Lokesh visited the Polavaram evacuees in Kunavaram, VR Puram and Chintoor mandals and Sarapaka in Burgumpahad mandal on Tuesday. He inquired whether the government was fulfilling its commitments under the resettlement programme.

He that the Chief Minister could not even get one single house constructed for the project evacuees in the past two and half years of his rule. He added that Jagan made many promises to pay compensation of Rs 19 lakh per acre in 2016 and Rs 10 lakh during his Padayatra but after coming to power he forgot all his promises.

Some of the evacuees' families narrated their woes under the present government and threatened to hold protests and to attack the Polavaram dam, if the Jagan regime did not honour the R&R package payments transparently.

Speaking on the occasion, Lokesh recalled the promises made by Jagan to pay Rs 5 lakh per acre for the land acquired as per the 2013 acquisition act and added that these promises were not fulfilled. Even the Rs 555 crore compensation amounts of evacuees were looted by the YSRCP leaders through false bank accounts. Lokesh suggested Jagan to order CBI inquiry into this, if he wanted to do justice to the tribal evacuees.

Lokesh deplored that at every step, the people were subjected to cheating and betrayals in the hands of the ruling party leaders. When the Polavaram evacuees were agitating for their rights, the government used the police and the JCBs to evict them from their lands. Jagan was behaving like a 'Gali CM' who had no commitment to the laws and the promises. Lokesh asserted that Polavaram and Amaravati were the two most important projects which were echoing in the very words of Andhra Pradesh. While 1.90 lakh tribals sacrificed their lands for Polavaram project, the Amaravati farmers sacrificed 34,000 acres for capital city.

Referring to emotional remarks of tribals, Lokesh said that the evacuees' anguish was understandable on how they were talking about attacking the dam. This kind of a hopeless situation arose because of the irresponsible governance of Jagan. The Chief Minister's negligence and greed were threatening to turn Polavaram as a watery grave for tribals. Chandrababu Naidu visited Polavaram every Monday to ensure early completion but Jagan visited just a couple of times since coming to power in 2019.The tribals told Lokesh that the Jagan government was playing dangerous games with their lives. There was no support from the government though they were facing problems due to floods in the past two years. The promised package was not being given while the evacuees' families were being threatened to vacate their houses and lands. They gave just two potatoes and a candle to each family during floods. No supply of essential commodities and not even a single drinking sachet. Lokesh recalled how tribal leader Rajeswari was made to squat disrespectfully in the project officer's office. This was enough to say what respect the YSRCP government had for the rights of tribals. Most alarmingly, the SC, ST atrocities cases were being filed against SC, STs. It is high time for the SC, STs and all the weaker sections to wage a united struggle to bring down the Jagan rule, he added.