Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu has urged Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to take steps to complete the Polavaram multi-purpose irrigation project in Andhra Pradesh at the earliest.
In a letter to Mr. Shekhawat on Wednesday, Mr. Naidu said Polavaram was the lifeline for the farmers of the State, and it would play a vital role in the interlinking of rivers.
“Faulty execution of the project by the State government has dealt a big blow. The delay has caused immense loss to the nation in general and Andhra Pradesh in particular in the form of direct and indirect costs. Escalation of the project cost and R&R cost have a direct bearing, while loss of project benefits has an indirect bearing on the exchequer,” Mr. Naidu said.
The former Chief Minister said the TDP government had completed 71% of the Polavaram works with the active support from the Union Government.
‘Unilateral decisions’
“But, the unilateral decisions of the YSRCP government have caused severe harm to the project. Ever since coming to power, the YSRCP government has been taking decisions out of selfish, vested interests,” Mr. Naidu alleged in his letter.
“On the first day of coming to power on June 1, 2019, the YCP government had decided to change the contractor in spite of the fact that the contract had been approved by the Central government organisations. The State government has been defying the warnings of the Union government as well as the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) in the last three years,” Mr. Naidu alleged.
“As former Chief Minister, I am greatly alarmed over the harm being done to the State’s lifeline project. The Centre should resolve the hurdles as early as possible so as to complete the project without further delay,” Mr. Naidu said.
