Do justice to north AP districts, CM urged

PNS|Vijayawada

Former MP Konatala Ramakrishna has appealed to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to do justice to the north Andhra districts by taking various steps including providing reservation in jobs to locals under Article 371 D, convene an all-party meeting and release a White Paper on the allocation of funds for the development of north AP districts.

In a letter to the Chief Minister on Wednesday, Konatala Ramakrishna urged the Chief Minister to convene an all-party meeting before the budget sessions of Assembly to discuss the issues including water sharing and employment generation.

The former MP also asked the CM to release a White Paper on the development of AP districts and allocation of funds since the bifurcation of the State. The ex-MP said that about 15 lakh people had migrated from the north AP districts and they were doing odd jobs in Hyderabad since there was no employment available in north AP.

“In order to prevent the migration of people to other places, the government should provide 85 per cent reservation to the locals in jobs,” he said.

“We appeal to the government to convene an all-party meeting before the budget session of the Assembly to elicit opinions on the issues of north AP,” he said in the letter.

Konatala Ramakrishna said that the government should release a White Paper on the development carried out in north AP districts and allocation of funds since the bifurcation. “We also appeal to allocate 15 per cent of funds in the 2023-24 budget for the development of north AP districts,” he said. Ramakrishna said that they organised an intellectual meeting on January 7 in Visakhapatnam and all the participants felt that it was imperative for the government to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the north AP issues.

The ex-MP claimed that out of the 30 lakh acres of irrigated land in north AP districts, only eight lakh acres were getting irrigation water. He said that north AP districts required 207 TMC of water, but the area was getting just 100 TMC of water now, adding that the Bachavat commission report also said that the north AP region required 400 MGD of water. The region needed 170 MGD of water for drinking purposes, but the availability was only 120 MGD. As per the 2011 statistics, 74 per cent of households did not have potable water tap connection.

He also urged the Chief Minister to take steps to complete the major irrigation projects including Polavaram, Vamshadara, Nagavali, Jandyavati, Bahudha and Thotapalli. “A White Paper should be released on the pending irrigation project and the share of the north AP region should be finalised, he said in the letter. He also urged the government to upgrade VIMS as a multi super specialty hospital and to modernise KGH.