VIJAYAWADA: In a meeting with the State Water Resources department, the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) has stressed the need of faster completion of Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R and R) of the Project Displaced Families (PDFs) of the national project. It also observed that there was a need to provide temporary shelters to the PDFs during the flood season next month.
The PPA officials, after a three-day visit to the project site, submergence-prone villages and R and R colonies, held a meeting in the city on Friday. Sources said that the authority asked the State officials to be prepared for a higher flood level this season. “Most of the discussion revolved around the pending R and R works. Since a few villages are likely to be marooned during the flood season, the authority officials observed that the residents of submergence-prone villages be rehabilitated in temporary shelters. They also suggested that the State be prepared to tackle higher flood, if any, during the season,” an official explained. For the record, the authority officials during their visit to the R and R colonies and submergence-prone villages observed that there was a lot of pending work.
It is further learnt that the officials also deliberated on the pending aspects such as designs approval and funding. Regarding funding, sources explained that the Centre sought an audit report from the State government on the expenditure made till March 31, 2014.
The audit is underway and is expected to conclude in a few weeks. The officials also discussed on the timeline of completion of the project. Even though the State officials planned to complete the construction of cofferdams by July, they haven’t reached the halfway mark. Hence, the PPA asked the officials to stop the cofferdam works so that the flood water would have a passageway, thus preventing from more villages from submerging.
PPA CEO RK Jain, officials from the State Water Resources department and others were present in the meeting. Meanwhile, the Water Resources department is in the process of preparing a presentation on various projects, including the status of Polavaram, for the review meeting scheduled by Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy next week.