VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu directed Water Resource department officials to complete the resettlement and rehabilitation of Polavaram project oustees by December and directed the officials to expedite the project works.
Taking stock of the Polavaram project works progress on Monday, the Chief Minister said that till date one lakh people have visited Polavaram project site and directed officials to encourage more people from the district to visit the project site.
He said that Chief Engineers board meeting will discuss the GST on the bills for works being done for Polavaram project will be discussed and shortly a solution will be found.
Officials informed him that 57.41 per cent of project works have been completed so far despite rains. According to them, 44.23 percent of works of the main dam, 62.77 per cent of the left main canal, 90 per cent of works of the right main canal, 77 per cent of earthworks pertaining to spillway, spill channel and others, 94.20 per cent of jet grouting and 33.7 per cent of concrete works have been completed so far.
Reviewing the water levels in different water bodies across the State, the Chief Minister directed officials to utilise the available water resources- both surface and groundwater. They were asked to focus on the areas, where there is deficit rainfall. Till date, in all the 86 reservoirs, the total volume of water stood at 380.68 TMC and in other tanks and water bodies, an additional 867 TMC is available.
Officials were directed to complete the 25 ongoing projects by December and also to complete 10 lakh farm ponds at the earliest and fill them up with water. He opined that by effectively storing the water in the existing reservoirs, medium, minor and small tanks, providing water for the areas depending on rains is not impossible. He appreciated Vamsadhara project engineers for completing the second phase works at the earliest.