The crucial meeting of Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) on November 2 to discuss the letter written by the Union finance ministry restricting the cost of Polavaram major irrigation project on Godavari river is going to decide the fate of the project.
On behalf of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government, special chief secretary (irrigation) Adityanath Das and Polavaram project chief engineer Sudhakar Babu will attend the meeting. And all eyes are on what stand the government will take at the meeting.
Minister for municipal administration Botsa Satyanarayana has hinted that if the Centre does not agree for increase of the project cost, the state government will hand over the project back to the Centre.
“We shall convince the Centre to complete the project at the earliest,” he said.
The Union finance ministry, in its letter written to the PPA on October 12, stating that it had approved the Polavaram project cost as Rs 20,398 crore as per 2013-14 estimates, notwithstanding the approval given by the Central Water Commission and PPA for Rs 55,548 crore as per 2017-18 rates.
Though this was made it clear in 2017 itself, the then TDP government led by N Chandrababu Naidu remained indifferent in his eagerness to change the contractors. Now, the Jagan government is facing the consequences.
It remains to be seen whether Jagan will reject the Centre’s latest proposal and put up a fight or simply wash off his hands by handing over the project to the Centre.
