YSR Govt showing injustice to coastal areas: TDP leader

Kakinada, Feb 22 (UNI) Public Accounts Committee Chairman and Telugu Desam Party politbureau member Yanamala Ramakrishnudu today blamed the Andhra Pradesh Government for its alleged ''erratic policies and injustice to the coastal areas.'' Addressing a press conference here, he said, ''the coastal areas are subjected to gross negligence and the government is playing havoc with the lives of farmers and fishermen community by forcibly taking away their lands and depriving them of their livelihood in the name of SEZs.'' In support of his argument, he cited the Kakinada SEZ where thousands of acres were taken away allegedly using ''coercive tactics'' and claimed that both the farmers and the fishermen were left in lurch.

''The government is showing the Kakinada SEZ as an ongoing project but not a single project has come up there except the forcible land acquisition. The much-awaited ONGC refinery project was also not materialised,'' he remarked.

Alleging that the state government had failed miserably in keeping up its election promises on new irrigation projects, he said the Chief Minister had claimed in his budget speech during 2004-05 that all the projects would be completed within a couple of years.

But all the projects were incomplete and those completed were defective, he alleged.

He also criticised the government's move to get the Pushkara project inaugurated by AICC President Sonia Gandhi next month, which, he claimed, was not even 50 per cent complete.

Mr Ramakrishnudu claimed that the development of ports, including Kakinada, Gangavaram and Krishnapatnam, were finalised by the TDP Government. He regretted that East Godavari district was also figured among the eleven districts lagging behind in education sector.

UNI XR VA RL AS1853