HYDERABAD: Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member KVP Ramachandra Rao filed a public interest litigation petition in the High Court here on Thursday questioning the action of the central government in limiting its financial liability on the Polavaram irrigation project to the extent of the project cost as on April 1, 2014 despite it being declared a national project. He also questioned the AP government’s decision to bear the cost overrun beyond said date.
Rao, in his petition, pointed out that the Centre had, all of a sudden, changed its stand on the execution of the multipurpose project and its commitment on expenditure, and announced a special package to AP on September 8 last year in gross violation of the provisions of AP Reorganization Act, 2014.
Besides, it decided to fund the project up to their fixed liability by way of loan from NABARD instead of a direct grant. The government thus abdicated its responsibility, he contended.
Rao submitted that the Centre had released Rs 3,364 crore towards reimbursement of expenses incurred by the AP government till July 2017 and the Centre is due to reimburse another Rs 3,800 crore to the state government.
If the court did not take appropriate action against the Centre, the alleged change in contractor would increase budget from the estimated cost of `16,000 crore to a whopping amount of `53,000 crore, he said.
While urging the court to declare the actions of the central and AP governments on Polavaram arbitrary, the MP urged it to direct the Centre to bear the entire cost of the project till its completion.