2-week deadline for sand scarcity issue: Pawan to Jagan

Janasena party chief Pawan Kalyan has set a deadline of two weeks for the Y S Jaganmohan Reddy government to address the severe sand scarcity in the state, which is allegedly responsible for the deaths of over 36 construction-related workers in the past five months. Kalyan made the announcement at a public meeting in Visakhapatnam on Sunday evening.

Earlier, the Janasena party cadre held a 2.8 km “long march” from Telugutalli statue to GMC junction, along with the representatives of entire Opposition in the state including TDP, BJP and communists.

“I demand the state government provide Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the 36 workers that either committed suicide or died of a broken heart due to lack of work since the YSRCP government took over the reins of the state,” he said. He also demanded Rs 50,000 compensation to each one of the construction workers that lost livelihood. Pawan Kalyan found fault with the government for unmindfully stopping sand mining only to take revenge on former Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu.

“YSRCP says that I am Naidu’s adopted son. No, I am not, I am the adopted son of people of the state,” Pawan said. He said that the new government should have rectified lacunae in Naidu’s policy of free sand.”Instead, they stopped all construction work, which had a cascading effect on the livelihood of over 50 lakh workers and their families. By the time the government realized its fault, it was too late and the floodwater inundated sand reaches,” he said.

“If Jagan functions properly, I don’t have to come out and I could go back to make more movies,” the actor turned politician said. He warned the Jagan government that he will visit and hold a march in Amaravati if the government fails to improve the supply of sand in the state.

In a related incident, three construction workers were admitted in a local hospital after they came into contact with electricity passing through a barricade at the public meeting. The power generated was immediately stopped and the three workers were rushed to a hospital, where their condition is said to be safe.