The YSR Congress Party government will not seek votes of the people before finding a permanent solution to the problem of recurrent floods in river Penna, Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Minister Ambati Rambabu said.
Laying the foundation stone here on Wednesday for a ₹75 crore concrete protection wall to prevent flood water entering some colonies located on the river bank in the city, he said the project would be completed on a war footing.
The Minister in-charge of SPSR Nellore district, who also reviewed the progress of the ongoing Sangam and Penna barrrages, said that both the projects were going on at a brisk pace. They would be completed in about a month’s time and dedicated to the farmers of the Penna delta by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
He said the YSRCP Government implemented welfare schemes worth ₹1.60 lakh crore in a transparent manner benefitting each and every beneficiary on a saturation basis.
Nellore city MLA and former Minister P. Anil Kumar Yadav, who had handled the irrigation portfolio earlier, said the government had initially envisaged constructing a mud wall that involved displacement of 1,200 houses. But later, the protection wall had been redesigned in such a manner to restrict removal of houses to about 30.
The displaced people would be provided houses elsewhere, he said. He would shortly undertake ‘Gadapa Gadappaku Mana Prabhuthvam’ programme to know first hand the woes of the people in his constituency and work for redressal of grievances expeditiously.
District Collector K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu said the district, with 150 tmcft of water, had a comfortable storage levels in reservoirs to meet the irrigation and drinking water needs of people.