Date:01/01/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/01/01/stories/2005010105220400.htm

Andhra Pradesh

CPI demands fair deal to Polavaram project evacuees

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, DEC. 31. The Communist Party of India has demanded proper rehabilitation of those villagers who will lose their lands with the construction of the Polavaram project.

"Land pattas should be given to everybody from the 206 villages which are under threat of submergence," said the CPI State secretary, Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, here on Friday. "Proper rehabilitation is a must," he added.

He stressed just distribution of Godavari waters among different regions of the State.

The CPI would not even object to World Bank loan for completing irrigation projects but the Bank should be approached only as a last resort. The loan thus taken should be spent transparently, he added.

State conference

He announced that the CPI would hold its State conference between February 5 and 9 in Nalgonda which would be followed by a national conference in Chandigarh in the last week of March.

Mr. Reddy urged the Government and naxalites to resume their talks. "All issues should be discussed across the table and the question of arms should not derail this process," he said.

Earlier, Mr. Reddy accompanied a delegation of residents from Jawahar Nagar in Shamirpet to the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, demanding allocation of house sites for them. Dr. Reddy promised to look into the matter and issue appropriate orders soon.