Jagan wants UCIL to put off public hearing

KADAPA: YSR Congress Party chief and Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy expressed fears that the groundwater in Tummalapalle, Middipentla, KK Kotala and other areas in Vemula mandal might be getting contaminated due to the uranium project.The locals poured out their woes to Jagan Mohan Reddy when he visited the mandal on Monday. They said because of the project, the groundwater was not only depleting but it was getting contaminated.The MP promised to take up the matter with the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL). Later, he met UCIL executive director Behl and explained the problems being faced by farmers and villagers surrounding the project.He suggested that water samples from the villages must be collected and sent for testing. He said if the alkaline content in  the water was found to be high they would oppose the project.He also asked Behl to postpone the public hearing on the second plant of the project scheduled for June 2 and threatened to obstruct it, if  the UCIL decided to go ahead with the public hearing.Only after it was confirmed that water was not contaminated, they would decide whether to have the public hearing or not, he said.Jagan Mohan Reddy also asked the UCIL official to take measures for providing compensation and employment to the 365 farmers who lost their lands  for the project, if it was proved that water was not being contaminated.Earlier, Jagan Mohan Reddy paid floral tributes at his grandfather  Raja Reddy’s Samadhi on the occasion of his death anniversary.