Gelatin sticks create flutter; Chandrababu Naidu's convoy delayed

ANANTAPUR: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s security personnel and Anantapur police, along with senior Telugu Desam leaders, had an embarrassing situation on Wednesday after the special party team noticed 200 gelatin sticks beneath a culvert of Kothacheruvu in between Puttaparthi and Bukkapatnam, where the Chief Minister was scheduled to travel by road to take part in Janmabhoomi programme in Anantapur district.

As per schedule, the CM was to arrive Puttaparthi on special aircraft and reach Bukkapatnam mandal headquarters via Kothacheruvu, which takes about 20 minutes of travel.

Just few hours before the schedule, police teams noticed a suspicious bag beneath a culvert on the outskirts of Kothacheruvu mandal headquarters and alerted the higher authorities after they found outdated gelatin sticks in the bag.

The entire road was blocked and bomb squads and sniffer dog squads were pressed into service for further through inspection of entire road. After the verification, the police authorities came to a conclusion that the explosive material was procured by contractors of Handri Neeva Sujala Shravanthi Irrigation and Drinking water project.

Phase–II works of the project pass through hill areas as contractors were using gelatin sticks to blast the hard stones to clear path for the canal. “Soon after the completion of canal and structure works, the contractors might have thrown out the gelatin sticks those were expired, but it created havoc for entire police department,” senior official told DC.

In the wake of rumours of recce by Maoists, the Intelligence wing had alerted the state police over possible movements by the Maoists who were trying for retaliation after the recent big encounter in the state borders closer to Vizag rural district.

Further, Anantapur was previously a stronghold for Maoist groups and Puttaparthi-Bukkapatnam area had strong base because of vast hill area.
Police tightened security and did not permit even motor cycles to ply the Puttaparthi-Bukkapatnam stretch till the Chief Minister’s programme ended.

Naidu to lay stone for Purushottapatnam scheme
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu will lay the foundation stone for construction of Purushottapatnam lift irrigation scheme on Godavari river to pump water to meet the drinking and industrial needs of people in Visakhapatnam, at Padagaya of Pitapuram mandal in East Godavari on Thursday.

Taking a cue from successful execution of Pattiseema lift irrigation scheme on Godavari river at Pattiseema village of Polavaram mandal in West Godavari to pump water to Krishna delta, the state government is taking up Purushottapatnam lift irrigation scheme at a cost of about Rs 1,600 crore to pump about nearly 3,500 cusecs of Godavari water to Visakhapatnam.

The project caters to the irrigation needs of command area of Yeleru Canal and Pitapuram Branch Canal spread over in about 70,000 hectares. The CM will arrive at Ramachandrapuram at 10 am and inaugurate RDO office, RDO’s camp office and Sthree Sakthi Bhavan. At about 3 pm, he will address a public meeting.