‘Praja Rajyam not interested in deriving political mileage out of Polavaram yatra'

TENALI: Praja Rajyam president K. Chiranjeevi has asserted that his party is not keen on deriving political mileage out of the ‘Polavaram Sadhana Yatra.' ``Let them (State Government) take credit for the completion of Polavaram Project. We are not interested in giving it a political colour,''Mr. Chiranjeevi said at a media conference here on Monday before setting off the three-day tour in the district.
While fending off criticism that his tour was aimed at strengthening the party, Mr. Chiranjeevi took potshots against Telugu Desam. “How can a party which called farming a ‘wasteful exercise' hope to win back the trust of the farmers?'' he shot back while replying to criticism from TDP leaders. Sounding upbeat about the prospects of his party, Mr. Chiranjeevi said he would meet evacuees of Polavaram project at Bhadrachalam on May 20 and express solidarity with their demands for increase in relief and rehabilitation package. On May 26, he would take part in ‘Chalo Polavaram' tour.
Raising his objection to the proposed changes in the design of Indira Sagar (Polavaram) Multipurpose Major Irrigation Project, Mr. Chiranjeevi said any change in the design of Polavaram project would delay it considerably. He also blamed the Government for delaying the execution of the project under the disguise of permission from the Central Water Commission (CWC). Though the project has been originally designed to handle 36 lakh cusecs, changes have been mulled to withstand the Maximum Probable Flood Discharge of 50 lakh cusecs, a rare phenomenon witnessed once in 10,000 years. Mr. Chiranjeevi also raised concern over reports of a shortfall in foodgrain production from 205 lakh Metric Tonnes (MT) to 150 lakh MT and sought the Government's intervention to raise the minimum support price of NLR rice.