ANANTAPUR: District unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI) has urged the Government to provide work under the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to all those who have enrolled their names.

The party also urged the Government to fulfil all its pre-poll promises.

Speaking after launching the `Praja Poru' programme at Jellipalli in Kuderu mandal on Monday, District Secretary of the party M. V. Ramana said that the party had taken up the village-visit programme to highlight the problems in villages. They would visit 400 villages in 40 mandals as part of the programme.

Development

The exercise was aimed at achieving comprehensive development in rural areas, bringing

the problems faced by the villagers to the notice of the Government and seeing to it that the issues are redressed. Six decades of Independence had failed to develop the villages, he said.

Many villages still lack basic amenities like safe drinking water, health facilities, education, roads, sanitation and power among others.

Lack of work was driving villagers to migrate while the youth were unable to take up self-employment schemes due to lack of support from the Government.

Serious crisis

Agriculture was passing through a phase of serious crisis and it needed proper attention by the Government, Mr. Ramana said. Development of rural areas had been mere publicity for the successive governments, he felt. He called upon the people to agitate for finding a solution to their problems.

Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had made as many as 144 pre-poll promises but a majority of them remained unfulfilled so far, the CPI leader pointed out. Citing an example he said that the Congress promised to take up land development of the poor with Rs. 500 crores but had sanctioned only Rs. 75 crores, out of which a mere Rs. 48 lakhs was spent.

Irrigation projects

Completion of Handri Neeva project was also doubtful with meagre allocation of funds. Against the requirement of Rs. 1,350 crores for the completion of the phase-I by March 2007, as promised by the Chief Minister, only Rs. 250 crores was allocated in the 2006-07 Budget, he said.

Getting the allocated 10 tmc ft water to Penna Ahobilam Balancing Reservoir (PABR) also appeared to be impossible as the Government had failed to take up follow up works , Mr. Ramana opined.

Party leaders C. Jaffer, Ravindranath, Shakuntalamma, Ameenamma and others participated.

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