Minister for IT and Industries D. Sridhar Babu has said a bridge will be constructed across the Godavari between Manthani and Shivaram at an estimated cost of ₹125 crore to improve connectivity, boost trade and ensure comprehensive development of Manthani town and its surrounding villages.
Untiring efforts will be made to accelerate the development of Manthani Assembly constituency imbued with the vision of former Assembly Speaker of the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh and former Manthani MLA late D Sripada Rao, the Minister said.
Mr. Sridhar Babu was speaking after garlanding the statue of his father late Sripada Rao on the occasion of the latter’s 87th birth anniversary in Manthani on Saturday.
Welcoming the State government’s decision to celebrate late Sripada Rao’s jayanthi as a ‘State function’, he paid rich tributes to the former Assembly Speaker, who espoused the cause of poor and downtrodden sections and contributed his mite to the development of Manthani constituency.
The Minister said top priority will be accorded to find a lasting solution to address the irrigation needs of farmers in the constituency.
He said the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) in its report mentioned lapses in the planning, design and construction of the Medigadda barrage of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) built during the previous BRS government. “The BRS leaders should tender an apology to the people of Telangana for the Medigadda fiasco,” he said.
Later, the Minister handed over ‘zero electricity bills’ to the beneficiaries of the State government’s ‘Gruha Jyothi’ scheme at Satyasai Nagar in Manthani.