Park lease sparks protest

Visakhapatnam: Leaders and activists of CPI and CPM city committees staged a protest in front of the Vuda Central City Park here on
Wednesday opposing leasing out of the park to a relative of State Minister for a period of 20 years.

The protestors raised slogans and demanded that the government roll back its proposal. They wanted Vuda to maintain the park on its
own as the park was achieved after a prolonged struggle by Left parties, mass organisations and voluntary bodies. It may be recalled
here that the BJP MLA P Vishnukumar Raju also vehemently opposed the privatisation of the park.

The park was inaugurated by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on September 14. The Vuda has sent some feelers recently that it
would be very difficult for it to maintain the park in terms of cost factor and better to lease it out.Speaking at the protest camp, CPM city
secretary B Ganga Rao alleged that leasing out the park was nothing but looting of public properties. CPI district secretary A J Stalin
charged Vuda with hatching a big plan to declare that it could not maintain the park soon after the inauguration.

Founder of Praja Spandana C S Rao (former bureaucrat), a large number of activists, CPI city secretary D Markandeyulu, CPM city
committee member R K S V Kumar, Prabhakar, Vimala, P Mani, Vamana Murty, M Subba Rao and R P Raju were also present.

MLAs submit representation Meanwhile, a team of local MLAs including Velagapuri Ramakrishna Babu, PGVR Naidu and Vasupalli Ganesh
Kumar and P Vishnukumar Raju (BJP) submitted a representation to the Vuda Vice-Chairman, T Baburao Naidu, here on Wednesday
appealing not to privatise the City Central Park taking the interests of Vizag people into consideration.

The MLAs apprised the Vice-Chairman that the government had spent crores of rupees in constructing the most prestigious park at the
heart of the city only for the people’s entertainment and not for commercial purpose. “If such a great park is leased out to private bodies,
there will be no justice for the Vizag people,” they explained. Reacting to the representation, Baburao Naidu told the delegation that he
would submit a report to the government in this regard.