VIJAYAWADA: The meeting of the dam design review panel (DDRP), which was to meet this week to discuss the approval of pending designs of various components of Polavaram Irrigation Project (PIP) and other aspects, is learnt to have been pushed to a later date. The panel is likely to meet in a week or two, officials said.
While the civil works related to the project have gained momentum, there are about 30 designs pending to be approved. According to information, 12 of the 30 pending designs pertain to the earth-cum-rock fill (ECRF) dam, while nine pertain to the spill channel. There are about six designs related to the spillway and three related to the gates that need to be cleared.
Thirteen of the 30 are with the Central Water Commission (CWC), 13 more with the executing agency, two each with the state water resources department and Pune-based Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS). With only one season left to finish civil works and also land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement (LARR), the state government and the executing agencies have expedited the works. The state government has chalked out a strategy to meet the target of December, 2021 to complete the civil works. To enable this, the officials are working to get the pending designs completed at the earliest so that critical component works can be expedited.
Meanwhile, secretary of water resources J Syamala Rao, who has recently met officials of Union Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) over various issues related to the PIP, is scheduled to hold a review meeting on the project on Monday.