Pending development works in Prakasam district came up for a heated debate during the ruling YSR Congress Party’s plenary session here on Wednesday.
Party MLA from Darsi M. Venugopal said that people as well as second-rung party leaders, who had bagged contracts and executed development projects worth over ₹100 crore in his constituency, were upset over the delay.
While the people were dissatisfied over non-completion of pending road and water supply projects in villages, party functionaries at the village and mandal levels to whom he had ensured contracts for development projects were upset over non-clearance of bills for works executed by them for long.
He cited an instance of a party leader who was forced to sell his house after executing a contract as his bill remained uncleared. He also said second-rung leaders, including Sarpanches, refused to join him during ‘”Gatapa Gatapaku Mana Prabuthvam” as they were debt-ridden.
At this juncture, party district unit president Burra Madusudhan Rao intervened and said he was in touch with the Chief Minister’s office and promised to ensure clearance of pending bills in a week’s time.
Mr Venugopal responded saying that he was ready join the contractors in visiting the residence of Mr Madhusudan Rao in Kanigiri if the bills remained uncleared by then.
Maintaining that the graph of MLAs would go up only when CC roads and other development projects were in time at the grassroots level, he sought immediate release of funds for the purpose.
Meanwhile, former Energy Minister and YSRCP Regional Coordinator Balineni Srinivasa Reddy put the onus of completing infrastructure projects expeditiously on the legislators as the party ticket would be given only to “performing MLAs”.
Stating the party had set a target of bagging 175 MLA seats in the State in 2024, he said the MLAs should also take care of the party workers. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had given him the task of ensuring the party’s victory in 21 Assembly constituencies, he added.
He underscored the need for early completion of the Pula Subbaiah Veligonda project by pressing for allocation of an additional ₹1,400 crore for it.
Municipal Administration Minister A. Suresh highlighted the Jagananna Navarathnalu schemes and said the welfare schemes taken up by the government had benefitted each and every family in the State.
