Senior TDP Leader Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu on Saturday ridiculed Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s ‘one district - one airport’ idea, saying it was yet another ‘Tughlaq’ decision after his first on setting up three capitals.
“The Chief Minister has already pushed the State into a debt trap. Where will the money for the airports now come from?” he questioned.
Medical colleges
The Chief Minister had announced the setting up of 16 medical colleges at a cost of ₹7,800 crore. He had virtually laid the foundation stone for 14 of them. “But where are the colleges, what is their progress and status?” he questioned.
“Salaries are not being paid in time. Those who have retired from service about six months ago have not yet received their retirement benefits. In this backdrop, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy has asked the officers to prepare proposals for airports in each district,” Mr. Patrudu said.
‘Contractors’ bills pending’
The State had no money to take forward the lifeline projects such as Polavaram and Sujala Sravanthi, he said. “The government has no funds to build a tribal university, but is going ahead to build airports,” he ridiculed.
“The government has no money to pay the contractors who had supplied nutritious diet to the COVID Care Centres during the second wave and supplied mid-day meal to the schools. The R&B and TIDCO contractors to have not been paid their money. And now it proposes to build airports,” he said.
Paddy and sugarcane farmers were yet to get their dues and the next of kin of those who had succumbed to COVID-19 had not received any compensation so far, the TDP leader said.
‘Money extortion’
Mr. Ayanna Patrudu accused the YSRCP government of trying to extort money from the poor by increasing house tax, imposing garbage collection tax, and implementing the One Time Settlement scheme.