Early completion of Pulichintala sought

Vijayawada: Leaders of farmers' unions and political parties asked the State government to complete the Pulichintala Project on priority basis on schedule. The leaders met the Superintendent Engineer, D Sambaiah, here on Thursday and requested him to direct the contractor to speed up the work and complete the project by the end of June 2013 as promised by the contractor earlier. The All India Kisan Sabha national vice-president, Kolli Nageswara Rao, who led the delegation complained against the delay in the project work. He said that the contractor had erected only 17 gates out of the 24 and expressed doubts over completion of the remaining seven gates by end of June. He said that the contractor had to fix lifts for the gates and bring it to use for the next crop season that begins in June this year. Later, speaking to the media at the Superintendent Engineer's office, Nageswara Rao said that they would hold a meeting at Tenali in Guntur district in the first week of May to mount pressure on the contractor and the State government for early completion of the project. He further said that they would also meet the Irrigation Minister and the Chief Minister besides visiting the project site. He said that the contractor was given several extensions and the government had also paid advances to the contractor for early completion. However, till date the work is not completed and the farmers from the Krishna delta have doubts over water supply for the next crops. He said that the delta faced severe crisis in the last kharif season due to non-availability of water from Nagarjuna Sagar. However, excess rains in Nalgonda and Khammam districts brought water for the delta through Munneru and Paleru rivulets, he said. The farmers this year are not ready to take another chance and wanted the government to complete Pulichintala project and bring it into use from this khariff season, he said. The Telugu Desam leaders, Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, KVP Basaveswara Rao, Chalasani Anjaneyulu and other leaders were present. The leaders criticised the State government for succumbing to the pressures from the contractor and delaying the project work. Observing that the government had changed 36 Chief Engineers at the project since its inception, they said it exposed the government's indifferent attitude towards the project and the delta farmers.