Polavaram water only by next year, says Chandrababu Naidu
ELURU: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday said the water from the Polavaram project through gravity will be a reality next Kharif (June 2020) instead of this Kharif, as promised. The CM has been saying all along that the project would be completed by end of 2019 and before that water will be provided through gravity to the farmers in the delta region by onset of monsoon in 2019.
The CM was speaking to reporters after inspecting the works of the national project. It was his 31 physical inspection. He had already conducted 90 virtual inspections. Naidu said 70.17 per cent works of the project were completed.“Polavaram is the lifeline of Andhra Pradesh and once completed, it will permanently solve the drought problem in the State.
It is a long-pending desire and demand of people of the State and has been an election issue since 1941. However, we have taken up the works in 2015 and despite obstacles, we have been going ahead to complete the project at the earliest,” the CM said. Naidu said the project, which will irrigate 45 lakh acres of land, generate 960 megawatts of power, provide 80 TMC of water to Krishna river and 24 TMC to industries in Visakhapatnam, is progressing at a steady pace.
The CM said the project, which is designed to withstand flood discharge of 50 lakh cusecs, will house a hydroelectric power station and will have two main canals — Left (213 km ) and Right (177.9 km). Out of 45.72 metres, 25.72 metres of spillway works, 52 per cent of upstream and 30 per cent of downstream cofferdam works have been completed.