Endowments Minister A Indrakaran Reddy today said 65 per cent of works of Godavari Pushkarams have been completed so far and the rest will be over by end of this month. The State government released Rs 412 crore out of Rs 572 crore for the pushkarams to be conducted in a grand manner.
Addressing the media at Secretariat along with Government Advisor K V Ramanachary here on Saturday, the minister accused the Centre of showing partisan attitude towards Telangana in the allocation of funds for Godavari pushkarams. Though the river Godavari flows through five districts, the Centre allotted only Rs 50 crore as against Rs 700 crore sought by Telangana government and gave Rs 100 crore each to Andhra Pradesh and Maharashra States. District Collectors and officials will inspect the works in the third week for speedy completion, he added.
The issue of meager funds was brought to the notice of Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, he said and exuded confidence that Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya will get more funds from NITI Ayog. The Chief Minister will invite President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Pushkarams beginning from July 14 and steps are being taken to complete special VIP ghats for the purpose. Chinna Jeeyar Swamy will participate in the pious Godavari Pushkarams at Bhadrachalam and Basara. As many as 1,700 RTC buses will provide transportation to the devotees besides making efforts to run special trains to Bhadrachalam, Basara and Mancherial. He said there was no need for panic for waters as they have already stored 15 tmc at Sri Ram Sagar Project, 13 tmc at Yellampally Project. (NSS)