AP Congress Media Committee Chairman and former Rajya Sabha member Dr. N. Tulasi Reddy deplored that the promises of the AP Reorganization Act have been implemented only 10 percent in the last 11 years and that only through constructive public opposition can the Center bend its neck and implement the Act 100 percent.
Jai Andhra Democratic Forum Secretary Avadhanula Hari presided over the round table meeting held in Guntur on unimplemented reorganization promises.
Dr. Tulasi Reddy, while speaking, said that the Central Government has done injustice to the State of Andhra Pradesh by not giving special status to the backward 7 districts, by not providing a special package like Bundel Khad, and by reducing the height of the Polavaram project, which was declared a national project.
He said that the Central Government has given only Rs. 1500 crores for the construction of the new capital as per Section 94 of the Act and has waived its hands. He recalled that the 197 institutions identified in Schedule 9.10 of the Act should be considered as common assets and shared between two Telugu states in a 52:48 ratio, but this has not happened.
Dr Tulasi Reddy said that a huge steel plant should be built in Kadapa with the help of Steel Authority of India Limited, but no steps have been taken even today. Former MLC K.S. Lakshmana Rao deplored that while the YSR Congress, Telugu Desam and Jana Sena parties did not put any pressure on the Center in implementing the bifurcation promises, it was atrocious that they completely supported the BJP government in all cases.
He said that the new railway zone and Visakhapatnam-Chennai industrial corridor have not been approved, and that even though national educational institutions have been started, adequate funds and basic facilities have not been provided.
Jana Chaitanya Vedika State President Vallamreddy Lakshmana Reddy, said that the time has come to form a constructive opposition to resist the anti-people policies of the Central and State governments.
He said that this government had a debt of more than Rs. 10 crores when it came to power, and in the last year alone, it has taken on an additional debt of Rs 1.50 crores, pushing Andhra Pradesh into a debt trap. He deplored that it is meaningless to start building the huge Polavaram- Banakacharla irrigation project today at a cost of Rs 82,000 crores without completing the irrigation projects under construction.
CPI State Assistant Secretary Muppalla Nageswara Rao, CPM District Secretary Y Netaji, Congress State Vice President and former MLA Sheikh Mastan Vali, Professor D. A. R. Subramaniam, Dalit Bahujan Front founder Korivi Vinay Kumar and others spoke.
