Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy inaugurated the 2.26-km long flood protection wall constructed alongside the Krishna at Kanaka Durgamma Varadhi here on Tuesday.
The wall on the two sides of the Varadhi was constructed at a cost of ₹500 crore for protecting 80,000 Krishna Lanka residents from routine flooding during the monsoon. A park has been developed and beautification works have also been taken up as part of the project.
The Chief Minister launched the ₹12.40-crore riverfront park’s first phase which comprises an entry plaza, walking track, open gym and children’s play area, and also launched works of sewage treatment plants worth ₹239 crore that would benefit five areas in the city. He named the park Krishnamma Jala Vihar picking it up from a list of names submitted by the officials.
Mr. Jagan also distributed regularised house site pattas to the poor and said the government has regularised 31,866 house site pattas in Vijayawada and the beneficiaries from 16 colonies of Vijayawada East, Central and West constituencies would get full ownership rights on the allotted house sites.
Addressing a public meeting on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that it never occurred to the previous government to construct a retaining wall to protect people living in the flood-prone areas. “We all know that the residents suffered a lot during floods but their problem was never taken seriously by the previous government,” he said. “It was during the present government’s tenure that measures were initiated to construct a retaining wall,” he added.
Slew of initiatives
Stating that the government has initiated several development initiatives in Vijayawada city, the Chief Minister said that the statue of B.R. Ambedkar was constructed at a cost of ₹400 crore. Besides completing work on the flyover to the Vijayawada International Airport, two additional flyovers also came up on the road, in addition to the Kanaka Durgamma flyover. Work on the Outer Ring Road was also in full swing and it would be ready for inauguration in the next few months, he said.
All these development works apart, the government has been working hard to improve the lives of people through the introduction of village and ward secretariats and the volunteer system, but the opposition has somehow remained blind to all this, he remarked.
Water Resources Minister Ambati Rambabu, MPs Margani Bharat, Kesineni Nani, MLAs Malladi Vishnu, Vellampalli Srinivas, MLC Talasila Raghuram and party leader Devineni Avinash, Special Chief Secretary (Municipal) Y. Sri Lakshmi, senior officials and corporators attended the programme.
