The status quo will continue on the issue of Kakinada special economic zone (KSEZ) and the Government will take a decision only after consulting all and considering the pros and cons, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, said.

He told presspersons here on Monday, after the conclusion of his three-day tour of East Godavari district as a part of the Indiramma Bata programme, that he was aware that farmers were agitating against the economic zone, but a decision will be taken only after a detailed and careful review of the whole project. “As of now, it is status quo on KSEZ,” he said.

On the critical power situation in the State, the Chief Minister said the position may ease by the end of the month. The power cuts may be reduced by half as the State had received some rainfall during the month, he said. Even now, there was a shortage of 35 million units and therefore power-cuts had become inevitable.

MrReddy asserted the State Government was not responsible for the present power crisis, but the Union Government which was not allocating enough natural gas to the gas-based power projects in the State. As a result, they were not running to capacity and there was a lot of idle capacity and the State was suffering. On the issue of conducting elections to the local bodies and civic bodies, he said the State Government was ready to hold the elections, but there was a legal hassle. There was an unresolved issue with regard to reservations for BCs and the matter was pending with the Supreme Court. Once that was cleared, there would be no problem in holding polls.

He said the Indiramma Bata programme was taken up to acquaint himself with the problems at the grass-root level and to interact with the public in villages. The response to the programme, first launched in East Godavari, was very encouraging and he would cover other districts too. “We will give top priority to health and education,” the Chief Minister said.

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