Kolleru sanctuary should be protected: CPI

CPI leaders have demanded that the government take steps to protect the Kolleru Lake Abhayaranyam by removing the encroachments.
CPI national secretary K Narayana, State secretary K Ramakrishna and other leaders visited the flood-affected areas on Tuesday.
The CPI leaders visited Peda Yedlagadi, Chinayedlagadi and other affected villages and saw the Kolleru Lake.
Speaking on the occasion, CPI National Secretary K Narayana lamented that the Kolleru Lake and sanctuary had been encroached upon by the aquaculture mafia which resulted in the flooding of the low-lying areas.  Narayana said that the villages of Kolleru Lake areas were inundated because of encroachments. In 1999, the then government declared 77,138 acres up to the 5th contour as Kolleru Lake as a sanctuary, he recalled.
In 2006, when YS Rajasekhar Reddy was the Chief Minister, illegal fish ponds were destroyed in an area of 25,000 acres in Kolleru Sanctuary and the CPI supported the move, he observed. The CPI national Secretary alleged that Kolleru Lake has been encroached on again including 67 drains like Budameru, Ramileru Tammileru, Chandraya Drain and Errakalva from above Kolleru Lake, adding that one lakh cusecs of water reaches Kolleru Lake floods and all the flood water merges into the sea through the Uputateru drain.
Narayana pointed out that due to the encroachments, the upper towns and villages are getting flooded and it is the responsibility of the Central and the State governments to clear them.
CPI State Secretary Ramakrishna demanded that the Supreme Court guidelines should be implemented to clear the encroachments and protect the Kolleru Sanctuary. He announced that the CPI would launch an agitation unless the government responds. In the GO No. 120 which was passed in 1999, 77,136 acres had been declared as Kolleru Sanctuary and protected areas, the CPI leader claimed.
Ramakrishna revealed that he would go to Delhi and explain to the Central government about the encroachments of the Kolleru Lakh sanctuary. CPI state Assistant Secretary Muppala Nageswara Rao described the Kolleru Lakh as a wonderful sweet water Lake which attracts hundreds of birds. He demanded the Kolleru Lake should be protected up to the fifth contour.
CPI senior leaders including Akkineni Vanaja, Dega Prabhakar, Mannava Krishna Chaitanya, AP Koulu Rythu Sangham state general secretary P Jamalaiah and other leaders were among those who accompanied the CPI leaders.