The Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its ally, the Jana Sena Party (JSP), have found fault with the government for inaugurating the tourism resorts at Rushikonda even as the cases pertaining to the constructions there are pending adjudication in the A.P. High Court.
They have also questioned the government the rationale behind disallowing the media to cover the programme, and trying to keep the goings-on at Rushikonda away from public glare.
“Even after inaugurating the ₹450-crore worth project, there is no clarity on how it will be used. The YSRCP leaders are unable to say whether it will be used as a tourism resort, or as the Chief Minister’s camp office,” said senior TDP leader Palla Srinivasa Rao while addressing the media here on March 1 (Friday).
“While the Tourism Minister claims it as a tourism resort, the IT Minister says that the Chief Minister will take a call on it,” he said.
The government constructed the new resorts after demolishing the ₹200-crore worth APTDC resorts (Haritha) that had been generating good revenue for the government, he alleged. “In the last three years, the entire area has turned into a restricted zone, and the constructions have been taken up in violation of all norms,” the TDP leader alleged, and asserted that the people of Visakhapatnam were ready to send the YSRCP packing in the ensuing elections.
Addressing the media separately, JSP corporator P.L.V.N. Murthy wondered how the Tourism Minister could inaugurate the buildings when the matter was pending in the court.
“We have taken the issue to the notice of the AP Tourism Development Corporation, but there is no response,” he alleged. Where was the need to keep the media out of bounds when the constructions were tourism resorts, he questioned. The government should announce the purpose for which the buildings were constructed, he demanded.