TDP to agitate against corruption in ''Jalayagnam''

Hyderabad, Nov 29 (UNI) The main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh tonight announced state-wide stir on December seven demanding recovery of Rs 359 crore from the contractor entrusted with the Sripadasagar project in the wake of ''indictment'' by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Briefing newspersons after the Politburo meeting chaired by TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu here, its member K Srihari said the CAG's finding that ''Internal Bench Mark(IBM) estimates had been boosted by Rs 359 crore extending undue benefit to the contractor,'' had vindicated the TDP's stand that the ruling Congress had turned the ''Jalayagnam'' (irrigation initiative) into ''Dhana yagnam'' (avenue for minting money.

On international anti-corruption day on December nine, a delegation of senior party leaders would submit a memorandum to Governor N D Tiwari to press the demand.

If the demand was not conceded by then, the party's state general body would meet on December 10 to intensify the stir, he added.

The party wanted the Centre and the State Governments to intervene and stop execution of six labourers from Andhra Pradesh sentenced to death in the UAE.

The TDP vehemently condemned the State Government for remaining a ''mute spectator'' to the upper riparian state of Maharashtra, ''illegally'' construting Babli and 11 other projects.

Expressing concern over a large number of tribals succumbing to mysterious viral fever in Adilabad district, the party lamented that while state Health Minister S Chandrasekhar was attributing the deaths to severe cold conditions, Labour Minister G Vinod was ''advising the tribals not to undergo family planning operation but produce more children to compensate the death of other children''.

UNI