BJP office in the eye of storm

Vijayawada: A fiery debate is raging over the permanent structures including the Guest House owned by BJP MP Gangaraju and the proposed Shyam Prasad Mukharjee’s building to house BJP State office. The Left parties and the Congress launched a campaign demanding takeover of these buildings.

CPM leader Ch Babu Rao accused the Congress, TDP and BJP of encouraging encroachments on the river banks. He wanted the government to take over all these buildings and use them for the capital requirement instead taking lands from the farmers. Babu Rao said that allowing permanent construction was against the law of the River Conservation Act and also violation of the norms of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), National Green Tribunal (NGT) and National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD).

Former minister Devineni Rajasekhar Nehru asked the State and Central governments to take action against the unauthorised constructions along the river. Questioning the BJP and the Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu for laying foundation stone for the party office there, he warned that the Congress, too, would build its office there if BJP failed to withdraw the move to build its party office.

Meanwhile, the officials found over 48 such illegal structures on Guntur side of the river and 18 on Vijayawada side. The National Green Tribunal opposed any structure in the ‘Blue Floodline’ of the river as that would obstruct the free flow of flood in the river.

The ‘Blue Floodline’ according to the River Conservation Act of 1884 is 500 meters from the river water where no structure is allowed, except in cases like construction of bridges or drinking water works. However, in the ‘Red Floodline’ which is 700 meters from the river water and 200 meters from the Blue Floodline, temporary structures could be allowed with due permission from the irrigation, pollution control board and the NRCD.

Violators

The top violators included Gokaraju Gangaraju having buildings in 2,700 square yards at three places, M Appa Rao in 1,500 square yards, Chiguru shelter in 1,500 square yards, Lingamaneni Estates in 1,000 square yards, Tulasi Gardens in 800 square yards, ISKON temple in 800 square yards, P Nagabhushanam’s guest house in 700 square yards, Chandana Brothers guest house in 480 square yards, Ganapathi Sachidananda Ashramam in 400 square yards, guest houses of Nekkanti Venkatrao, N Raghava Rao and Subrahmanyam in 300 square yards each, the buildings of Sunkara Sivaramakrishna, Ravikumar, Madhavi, M B S V Prasad in 200 square yards each and Vedadri Maharshi Ashramam in 100 square yards. All these structures are located in the ‘Blue Floodline’ restricted area.

What about govt structures: Gangaraju

Vijayawada: When contacted, Gokaraju Ganga Raju told The Hans India that he had built the guest house some 15 years ago when there were no rules or the people were unaware of them. He said he was prepared for any decision that the government takes. However, he also raised questions on the government structures on Bhavani Island in the middle of the river and the Tourism Hotel at Bhavanipuram and another hotel at Sitanagaram, which were also built inside the river water.

He further said that he had also lost over three acres of land as the river changed its course over the years. “Let the government take a decision on all the structures and I am prepared for any action. But it should apply to the government structures too,” Ganga Raju asserted.