Judicial probe sought into breaches at major projects

Illegal sand mining could be the cause, says Somu Veerraju

Alleging that negligence of officials of the Water Resources Department led to a major breach in the Annamayya and Pincha projects in Kadapa district, BJP State president Somu Veerraju demanded that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy order a judicial probe into the incidents.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, Mr. Veerraju said the condition of minor irrigation projects warranted an urgent review as the consequences would otherwise be catastrophic. Those responsible for the breach of the Annamayya project should be held accountable and the loss recouped from them, Mr. Veerraju said.

“Besides, the report of an expert committee which studied the condition of the Annamayya project must be released at the earliest. What caused the breaches at Pincha dam also needs to be ascertained and necessary remedial action should be taken,” the BJP leader said.

Mr. Veerraju said that the government was not concerned about irrigation projects other than Polavaram for which the Centre was giving funds.

Crops in thousands of acres in Rayalaseema were not getting water due to the government’s failure in constructing canals under the Brahmam Sagar project. The canals in Godavari districts were in an extremely bad shape. People faced untold hardships due to the breaches in Rayalacheruvu during the recent floods, he alleged.

In spite of all this, there was no high-level review of the strength of the minor projects, Mr. Veerraju observed, and suspected that illegal sand mining would have caused the dams to fall apart.

Source: Read Full Article