Hyderabad, June 30: Andhra Pradesh government has renamed the ‘YSR Lift Irrigation Scheme’ on river Krishna, named after Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, as the Mahankaligudem Lift Irrigation Scheme, official sources said today.
The state government had on June 24 named the proposed lift irrigation scheme at Mahankaligudem village in Nalgonda district after the Chief Minister.
Naming a government scheme after an incumbent Chief Minister was unprecedented in the state and the move invited widespread criticism from various quarters.
The Congress, however, maintained that it was the farmers who insisted on naming the scheme after the Chief Minister as he sanctioned it for them.
However, Reddy reportedly directed the irrigation department officials to immediately remove his name to avoid an unnecessary controversy.
Accordingly, a government order was issued late on Monday renaming the scheme as ‘Mahankaligudem Lift Irrigation’, the sources said.
–PTI