Ongole public to get 135 LPD water soon

Ongole: Minister for HRD, IT and Electronics, Nara Lokesh inaugurated works for the Rs 424 crore drinking water supply project under AMRUT 2.0 at Rangarayudu Cheruvu here on Friday.

Under the project, all 35 distribution zones in Ongole have been re-zoned. The project will develop a new water supply network of 605.30 kilometres. This will provide 51340 house service connections across the city. The project aims to give water to every home at all times, not only at fixed hours.

Currently, many areas in Ongole get water only once every three days. Peripheral colonies get water once every four days, and tankers supply water there at a cost of Rs 1.00 crore every year. The city currently supplies 65 to 70 litres of water per person per day. Once the project is complete, this will go up to 135 litres per person per day. Ongole town now has 14 water tanks. Many of the pipelines in old Ongole are nearly 40 years old and break down often. Under the AMRUT 2.0 scheme, 18 new water tanks will be built, and old pipelines will be replaced with modern ones. The contractor will also restore roads wherever pipelines are laid.

MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, MLA Damacharla Janardhan Rao, MLA Vijay Kumar and local elected representatives attended the programme. Earlier in the day, Minister Lokesh unveiled the statues of 20 eminent personalities from Ongole at the KIMS Hospital flyover junction in Ongole. He also unveiled a statue of the Ongole Bull, a world-famous breed of cattle and a symbol of Prakasam district’s culture and livestock heritage, at the same location.

The 20 personalities whose statues were unveiled include freedom fighters Ronda Nara Parareddy and Darsi Chenchaiah, scholar and journalist Neelam Raja Venkata Seshaiah, the first Collector of Prakasam district Katti Chandrayya, physician and philanthropist Dr BVL Narayana, linguist Bhadriraju Krishnamurthy, actress and filmmaker Bhanumathi Ramakrishna, actress Garikipati Varalakshmi, director T Krishna, Padma Shri Nadaswara Maestro Shaik Chinamoulana Saheb and social reformer Kalekuri Prasad, among others.

Speaking at the event, Lokesh said that the statues were installed to introduce the contributions of these personalities to the present and future generations. He expressed that having all the statues at one busy public location would bring the lives, sacrifices and ideals of these eminent persons closer to the people. Ministers Gottipati Ravi Kumar, Dr Dola Sree Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy and Anam Ram Narayana Reddy, MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, MLAs Damacharla Janardhan Rao, BN Vijay Kumar, MLA Kancharia Srikanth and others attended the event

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