Legislators want Khammam to remain with Telangana

Hyderabad, Feb 7 : The legislators and public representatives hailing from Khammam district on Friday requested the Centre to keep Khammam with Telangana after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

In seperate memorandums sent to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, the leaders including Minister Ramreddy Venkat Reddy, Deputy Speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, TDP MLA Tummala Nageswara Rao and others said that not a single piece of land of Khammam district should be alienated to Seemandhra.

The memorandums were also signed by MLAs K Satyavathi, Rega Kantha Rao, Veggala Mitrasena, SAndra Venkata Veeraiah, Banoth Chandravati, K Sambasiva Rao and Abbaih Vooke and MLCs Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, Potla Nageshwara Rao and B Lakshmi Narayana.

They said that they were not opposed to Polavaram as National Project. However, they said that there should be minimum replaced of the population and meager submerging areas. Stating that for the long centuries, the Tribal population of Khammam has been habituated culturally, traditionally with Telangana, they said that the construction of Polavaram project would merge six mandals, 205 Gram Panchayats, 70 hamlets affecting a minimum of 2.5 lakh tribal population.

They requested that the Polavaram project construction may be modified with six barrages to reduce minimum loss and damage. Further, the affected people may be provided maximum RR package, they demanded.

Further, “The Seetarama Chandra Swamy Temple” at Bhadrachalam was built in the year 1674 by Gopanna alias Bhakta Ramdas, the then Tahasildar of Abul Hasan Taneshah, the VII and last king of Qutub Shahi Dynasty and maintained by Asaf Jahi Rulers and continuously it has been with Telangana (except for a short span of three years which was with Kakinada, later it retained with Khammam from November 1959).  INN