VIJAYAWADA: Water Resources Minister Ambati Rambabu lashed out at TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu for his adverse remarks on Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and the status of irrigation projects in the State, especially Polavaram.
In a point-to-point rebuttal to Naidu’s recent press conferences on irrigation projects, he described the TDP chief as the ‘real Shani’ for irrigation projects and the State as a whole and not Jagan as the latter claimed.
Ambati also satirically commented on the character Shyambabu in Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan’s latest movie Bro, resembling him. “If he (Pawan Kalyan) wanted to criticise me, he should do it directly. What is the need for such a roundabout?” he asked.
Giving a PowerPoint presentation on the Polavaram irrigation project and the TDP chief’s comments, he said he has not seen such grand acting as Naidu ever when he expressed his ‘anguish’ over the status of projects in the State.
“Naidu has surpassed TDP founder NTR and he should get an Oscar for his performance. Who in the State is not aware that while he was the Chief Minister before 2004, he never bothered about Polavaram or any other project for that matter? It was former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who laid the foundation stone for Polavaram. In fact, even HNSS and GNSS, for which NTR laid the foundation stone, were taken up on a priority basis by YSR,” he remarked.
Squarely blaming Naidu for the problems of Polavaram, Ambati said no one could deny the fact that floods in 2020 and 2021 had damaged the diaphragm wall. “Who constructed the D-wall before the completion of the spillway and cofferdams by spending Rs 400 crore? Was it, not Naidu’s government?” he questioned.
Showing the images of the construction of the Polavaram project in May 2019, Ambati said by that time, the approach channel, spill channel and spillway were not completed. The upper and lower cofferdams were both left incomplete.
“All they did was the construction of D-wall, much against the logic. In the 2020 and 2021 floods, as Godavari was not diverted, it followed through the gaps in cofferdams. Owing to the narrow gap, the force of the flow was several times more than usual, leading to damage to the D-wall,” he explained.
Unlike the previous TDP regime, which completed unimportant Polavaram works worth Rs 10,000 crore, the YSRC government has executed vital project works worth Rs 5,000 crore.
“Naidu was never sincere about the Polavaram project as he treated it as a cash cow, as mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself. “When the AP Reorganisation Act specifically mentioned that the Centre will fund and construct the Polavaram project, what was the need for Naidu to take up the construction? It was clear, it was for commissions,” he observed.