How the Chief Minister, Jagan Mohan Reddy, who has taken shelter under lack of funds for projects maintenance, has allocated Rs 8,000 cr worth of tenders to his Cabinet colleague, Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, asked TDP supremo and former chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, on Tuesday.
Naidu made a power-point presentation on the irrigation projects in the combined East Godavari district as part of his ongoing programme ‘Yudha Bheri’, a virtual warfare on the destruction of projects in the State. The TDP supremo said that had the Polavaram project been completed every acre in the district would have got sufficient water for irrigation and the water crisis for the industries too would have been resolved permanently.
Observing that the surplus water from the five major rivers, the Krishna, the Godavari, the Pennar, the Vamsadhara and the Nagavali, are merging into the ocean in the State, Naidu said that if this water is properly utilised the whole State will turn into a fertile land. Since there is not much difference in the gravitational height between the oceans and the land which is a great advantage for the State and the water can easily be lifted, Naidu felt.
The Godavari water has been shifted to Rayalaseema during the TDP regime and this has permanently resolved the water crisis in the drought-prone region, the former chief minister said. “We have linked the Nagavali and the Vamsadhara rivers in North Andhra through Heera Barrage. If the Srujala Sravanthi is completed the Godavari water can be shifted there and the surplus water that is now flowing into the sea can be supplied to Rayalaseema. If the tanks and reservoirs are filled with this water Rayalaseema will not face any problem for water even if there are no rains for four or five years consecutively,” Naidu explained.
Maintaining that during 2014-19 the TDP had given highest priority for the irrigation sector and for construction of projects, Naidu said that the government had worked with a firm resolve to complete all the projects taken up at that time overcoming various problems only with the sole aim of supplying water to the whole State. While the TDP regime had allocated 9.63 per cent for irrigation of the total budget estimates, this government has allocated a mere 2.35 per cent and this clearly indicates this Government’s commitment to the irrigation sector, he pointed out.
The works on Polavaram project were executed at a fast pace during the TDP regime with the cooperation of national-level engineering and IIT experts and 72 per cent of the project works were completed, Naidu said. After visiting the Polavaram project, the Union Ministers too appreciated the hard work of the TDP government while the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) too expressed satisfaction, he added.
