Kakani condemns name change of barrages, calls for immediate restoration

Nellore: Former Minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy expressed strong objections to the renaming of the Sangam barrage, originally named after Mekapati Goutham Reddy, and the Nellore barrage, named after Nallapureddy Srinivasula Reddy, stating that these changes were unnecessary and did not serve the public interests and demanded the immediate restoration of these names.

Speaking to media at the party office in Nellore here on Tuesday, the Former Minister flayed Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu for claiming that the Somasila Project was his initiative and reminded that Naidu, who served as Chief Minister from 1995 to 2004, never prioritised the Somasila Project during his tenure.

He questioned Naidu's role in the project, stating that during Naidu's nine years in office, Somasila, which has a storage capacity of 76 TMC, was never even half filled. He highlighted that it was Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy who ensured the project was filled to its full capacity and praised him for his vision, particularly in increasing the flow capacity from the Pothireddypadu head regulator from 11,000 to 44,000 cusecs, which played a crucial role in filling Somasila.

He also pointed out that the TDP ignored important irrigation problems including the failure to divert excess water that was being wasted into the sea. He mentioned that after becoming Chief Minister in 2019, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy took action to complete these important irrigation projects. He also increased the water flow from the Kandaleru flood flow canal by 11,000 cusecs to improve water supply, the former minister said.

He pointed out that even though Naidu was Chief Minister for 14 years, he didn’t modernise the Penna Delta and also left important projects unfinished. He criticised Naidu’s government for the poor conditions, where sandbags had to be used at the Sangam barrage to divert water to the Kavali canal. He also noted that it was only under YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s leadership that the Sangam and Nellore barrages were fully completed.