Water Resources Minister Ambati Rambabu on Thursday said an additional amount of ₹600 crore was required for construction of the damaged diaphragm wall of the Polavaram irrigation project being built across the Godavari in Andhra Pradesh.
The diaphragm wall was damaged during the recent floods, owing to some technical problems during its execution, the Minister said.
Addressing the media at the Polavaram project site, Mr. Rambabu said the previous government had constructed the diaphragm wall prior to the cofferdam, which led to its damage.
“The TDP government led by N. Chandrababu Naidu had constructed the diaphragm wall prior to the cofferdam to avoid rehabilitation of the people in the affected habitations in the +35 contour,” Mr. Rambabu alleged.
“The previous government’s decision had come after the families to be affected lodged a complaint with the Central Water Commission, and sought their rehabilitation before closing the cofferdam,” Mr. Rambabu said.
“The previous government is to be blamed for the delay in the execution of the project,” Mr. Rambabu alleged.
Earlier, Mr. Rambabu, Polavaram MLA T. Balaraju, and Polavaram project engineers inspected the twin-tunnel facility, the Polavaram Lift Irrigation scheme, and the works of gravitation flow for lifting water into the Right Main Canal.
Polavaram Project Chief Engineer B. Sudhakar Babu and Quality Control Superintendent Engineer Ramachandra were present.
