Godavari water to reach Anakapalli, Vizag by first week of Sept, says Naidu

Visakhapatnam: Godavari waters would be supplied to Anakapalli and Visakhapatnam by the first week of September through Polavaram left canal, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Saturday.Addressing the ‘Swarnandhra-Swachhandhra’ programme at Alamanda Koduru in K Kotapadu mandal, Naidu said development should go beyond industries and investments to include clean surroundings and environmental protection. He urged people to take responsibility for ‘Mana Ooru-Mana Badhyata’ (Our Village-Our Responsibility) and work towards making every village zero-waste.“Anakapalli is attracting more investments than Visakhapatnam, with steel-related industries and data centres coming up in the district. The region will emerge as a knowledge-economy hub in the future. The government plans to develop North Andhra as an industrial corridor, including a 10,000-acre industrial township and a skill development centre to train local youth,” he said.Referring to data centres, Naidu said the state has attracted five projects against the initial plan for one. Noting that 5 GW of data centres could create lakhs of jobs for AI professionals, he said the projects would require about 3.5 TMC of water. “Some people are spreading misinformation about data centres, saying construction has not yet begun, while claims about water depletion are being circulated,” he alleged, and added that water from Polavaram project will fill ponds across Anakapalli in the coming days.Thanking sanitation workers, government employees, and NGOs, he said they deserve appreciation for their role in the cleanliness drive. He called for proper management of waste generated in homes, streets, offices, schools and markets. “The government disposed of 143 lakh metric tonnes of garbage across the state in two years,” he said, alleging that accumulated waste under the previous government contributed to groundwater contamination during rains.On governance and elections, Naidu said voters should ensure that money do not influence elections, arguing that this would help prevent political misconduct. He also alleged that about 30,000 people died of illnesses linked to spurious liquor between 2019 and 2024 under the previous government.“The government is addressing land-related grievances through its ‘Your Land, Your Right’ initiative, under which pattadar passbooks are being issued on the ninth of every month. Correcting the irregularities of the previous government will take three years,” he said.On recruitment, Naidu said the government has increased sports quota from 2% to 3% and stressed the need to promote sports alongside education. He said there was no corruption in the DSC recruitment process and questioned the opposition’s criticism of teachers and recruitment procedures. He also alleged major irregularities in the evaluation of Group-I service examinations.