Whenever there is a discussion on Polavaram major irrigation project, Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu claims that his government had completed 70 per cent of the project works.
But the project has not made any headway and nobody knows when it is going to complete to give water to the parched lands of Andhra Pradesh.
The same was questioned by former Congress MP from Rajahmundry Vundavalli Arun Kumar on Tuesday.
“Naidu should explain how he could say that his government had completed 70 percent of the project works. The rock-fill earth dam, coffer dams, spillway and canal works are yet to be completed. Moreover, rehabilitation and resettlement of evacuees has not been completed even for 10 per cent,” he said.
He reminded that during the Y S Rajasekhar Reddy regime, only right and left canals were completed. But all the other works are still pending.
“If that is the scenario, how could Naidu claim that the project is completed up to 70 percent?” he asked.
Vundavalli also found fault with Naidu for agreeing to the Central government’s condition that it would bear the project cost only as per 2014 rates.
“But when we asked the Centre to show the evidence that the state had agreed for 2014 rates, it is not disclosing the same. How can the project be completed in 2023 with 10-year-old rates?” he asked.
Vundavalli regretted that till now, neither the state government nor the Central government was confirming whether the diaphragm wall of the project was there or washed away. If it was washed away, who is responsible for the design fault? He asked.
