TDP president and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday urged Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to take necessary steps to complete Polavaram, AP’s multi-purpose irrigation project, at the earliest.
In a letter to Jal Shakti Minister here, Naidu underscored the importance of Polavaram as a life-line project for the farmers of the State and for its vital role in the inter-linking of rivers as a whole.
The TDP chief expressed concern that the unilateral decisions of the YSRCP Government have caused severe harm to Polavaram. The inordinate delay and faulty execution by the State Government had dealt a serious blow to the project technologically.
Naidu told Shekhawat how the Jagan Reddy-led AP Government had gone to the extent of defying warnings of the Centre as well as the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) in the past three years. The previous TDP regime took proper decisions and completed 71 per cent Polavaram works with active support from the Union Government.
Chandrababu Naidu deplored that the inefficient YCP Government had thrown Polavaram into danger altogether. After the 2014 bifurcation, the Indian Government had given all support for constructing Polavaram as a national project as per the Reorganisation Act. Seven mandals were transferred to AP as per the Central ordinance in 2014 itself.
Expressing serious concern, Naidu told the Jal Shakti Minister that as the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, he was greatly alarmed over the harm being done to the State’s life line, multipurpose project. The Centre should resolve these hurdles as early as possible so as to complete the project without further delay.
Naidu said that ever since coming to power, the YCP regime was taking decisions out of selfish, vested interests. On the first day on June 1, 2019, itself, the YCP Government decided to change the contractor of Polavaram works. This was despite the fact that this contract was approved by the Central organisations.
Chandrababu Naidu recalled how Polavaram works were given to another agency in the name of reverse tendering in November, 2019. It took six months for the new agency to restart work on the project. The Government did not operate the project well in the process of changing contractors. As a result, the diaphragm wall has been washed away.
The TDP chief asserted that the diaphragm was actually constructed by a renowned agency at a depth of 40 metres to 100 metres and in a record time. The PPA had also told the State Government that there was no need to change the contractor considering smooth going of works at that time.
Naidu told Shekhawat that the PPA had forewarned the YCP Government that change of contractor would cause increased financial burden besides extreme delay that would threaten the overall project itself. Still, the AP regime went ahead and issued a tender notice in August, 2019. As a result of such motivated decisions, Polavaram fell into uncertainty even as the crucial diaphragm was eventually washed away.
