Groundwater data centre in Vijayawada open for water tests

Vijayawada: Water Resources Minister Ambati Rambabu has joked about Telugu Desam Leader Nara Lokesh and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan,  saying Lokesh cannot speak Telugu properly and hence how could he ever take charge of Telugu Desam.

The Yuvagalam Padayatra will not help the TD party. It would rather sink the party’s future prospects further down, he said.

The minister said those like TD leader Atchannaidu were scratching their heads as to why Lokesh organised a Padayatra.

“There is no need to doubt about the coming into being of the 3-Capitals plan as decentralization is the policy of the YSR Congress government. Rayalaseema, Uttarandhra and Coastal Andhra have strong regional feelings,” he said.

The minsiter criticised Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan for not starting a Yatra even as he got ready the Varahi caravan vehicles. “The Varahi yatra would be another filmy stunt,” he said and urged the people to be wary about Pawan. “Both Lokesh and Pawan have no commitment to the causes of the people,” he said.

Earlier, the minister inaugurated the Groundwater Data Centre in Vijayawada. He said arrangements would be made for water tests in Vijayawada. “Some 40 lakh acres in the state are dependent on groundwater. The lab will determine which crops are suited to each locality/region. The state has plenty of ground water.”

He said such data centers would be set up in Eluru, Vijayawada, Chittoor and Visakhapatnam. Some `69.84 crore was allotted with the support of the National Hydrology Project and the Ministry of Jal Sakthi for the setting up of the data centres and for providing related equipment for the state.

He further said that the state-level data centre was planned for Visakhapatnam at a cost of `16.50 crore. The Ground Water Department arranged Inductive Coupled Plasma equipment at the Vijayawada Ground Water Data Centre to test the quality of water. For this, the state government spent `1 crore.

Former minister and Vijayawada west MLA Velampalli Srinivas, Vijayawada mayor Rayana Bhagyalakshmi, NTR district collector Dilli Rao and others participated in the programme.