Row over new bridge comes into scene again

Kakinada:Efforts are on to construct a third bridge over the Salt Creek (Upputeru) connecting Kakinada to the Port, to ease the pressure on the existing two bridges at Jagannaickpur.

However, a row has erupted over the plan between the YSRC and Telugu Desam. Telugu Desam MLA Vanamadi Venkateswara Rao says it will reduce the pressure of traffic on the city. Former MLA Dwarampudi Chandraskehara Reddy however says the present alignment of the bridge would help Kondababu personally.

"The alignment is designed through Kondababu’s lands. This would increase the demand of their land as also its value," he reasoned.

As of now, vehicles will have to pass through one of the two bridges across the Salt Creek at Jagannaickpur. Cargo trucks, coming to Kakinada port from Amalapuram-Yanam side, passs through the Jagannaickpur bridge, to reach the port via the Warf Road.

Both in the morning and evening, the city roads are full with vehicle movement. Traffic in the city increases by the day, and the roads are dotted to the full with cargo vehicles, school buses, trade vehicles and the general traffic.

Notably, during 2014-19 term, the Telugu Desam government sanctioned a third bridge over salt creek from Chollangi to Kakinada port through the area close to the Yetimoga burial ground. It sanctioned `116 crore for the 8km length of the road and bridge. Stone was laid for the project before the 2019 elections.

After the elections, it was the YSRC that formed the government. The bridge plan remained in cold storage.

This time, the TD-led alliance won the polls and formed the government. Kondababu has been elected to the assembly. He is pushing the road plan. He has urged urban development minister P Narayana to sanction the bridge as early as possible to reduce the traffic problems in the city.

Dwarampudi alleged that Kondababu exerted pressure on the officials to design the alignment in a way that he would stand to benefit. “Kondababu grabbed lands near Yetimoga. If the bridge passes through this area, the land rates there would increase. Dwarampudi sought a change in the alignment. "

Kondababu told Deccan Chronicle that the third bridge was proposed during 1999-2004 period, when the late GMC .Balayogi was Lok Sabha Speaker. The bridge plan did not move forward, he noted.

He denied the allegation that he was pushing this case to gain personal benefits out of it.

“When YSRC was in the saddle, it would have changed the alignment if it was possible,” he noted.

It was due to the lack of interest on the part of the YSRC leaders that the proposal remained in cold storage and, as a result, the sanctions obtained during the last TD terms have lapsed, he claimed.