Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday hinted that there would be no immediate cancellation of the controversial Vadarevu Nizampatnam Ports and Industrial Corridor Project (Vanpic). Speaking to mediapersons, the Chief Minister sought to differentiate between Vanpic and other projects, like Brahmani Steels, which the government had already scrapped.
“It is a government-to-government project and the CBI is probing into allegations of irregularities in the MoUs,” the Chief Minister said, adding that a decision on taking the project forward could be taken after the CBI’s investigation was over. The Chief Minister’s observation came a few days after the Ras Al Khaima government, the G2G partner in Vanpic, wrote to him expressing concern over the delay in implementing Vanpic and reiterated its commitment to the completion of the project. RAK had earlier written to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh too.
The Chief Minister, however, was evasive about farmers attempting to take repossession of the land acquired for Vanpic. Minister D. Manikya Vara Prasada Rao had launched an agitation before the bypolls apparently to agitate YSR Congress candidate Balineni Srinivasa Reddy and instigated farmers to plough the land acquired by Vanpic.