VIJAYAWADA: Lashing out at the Opposition TDP for its claims that works of Polavaram project were stopped by the YSRC government, Minister for Water Resources P Anil Kumar Yadav has said there is not an iota of truth in it and the works will recommence from November. Speaking to media persons here on Monday, the minister said works were not being taken up due to floods. “You all are seeing the present situation of River Godavari. Flood in the river continues till October last week. It is not just our government, even if it were others, the works would not have taken place during the period,” the minister pointed out.
Anil Kumar said till the works recommence, the State government would sort out various anomalies in the execution of the project during the TDP regime. “By mid-September, tenders for the balance works of Polavaram project will be called at the old price in a transparent manner and the works will be started by November. All we are trying is to reduce the cost as much as possible,” he asserted.
To allay fears of cost escalation and delay expressed by the Centre, a detailed note would be submitted to the Union Ministry of Water Resources soon and at the same time measures were being taken to get the pending funds from the Centre, he said.
“Naidu claims that his government nearly completed the Polavaram project. His claims are far from the truth. Fact is, in the first three years after forming the government, the TDP did nothing and only in the last two years, it made a show of doing something, but most of it was for publicity. All the clearances for the project and most of the land acquisition were done when YS Rajasekhara Reddy was the chief minister. All Naidu government did was to construct some semi-finished spillway and cofferdam and misused the taxpayer's money in the process,” he said and pointed out that out of Rs 55,000 crore-project, Rs 39,000 crore worth R&R package was yet to be executed.
He said awarding works on nomination basis to Navayuga Engineering Constructions itself was illegal. “When cement, steel, fuel and everything used was provided by the government and the machinery was taken on lease, how can it be called anything but labour contract?” he said, ruling out any possibility of compensation to Navayuga.
The minister also found fault with the previous TDP government for failing to rehabilitate and resettle the people of the villages in danger of submergence due to the construction of cofferdam. “Had they done it, today, the 33 villages upstream Polavaram would not have cut off from the rest of the world during floods. All it needed was Rs 3,000 crore, but the TDP government did not do it and people today had to suffer.”
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader N Chandrababu Naidu took a dig at the government for issuing notices to Polavaram contracting agencies. Citing the statements of the Union Jal Sakthi Minister, he said there was no change in the attitude of the government despite the former terming the decision as unfortunate and that the project cannot be completed in time under such circumstances.
Spl officer to look into issues of displaced
The State government on Monday appointed a special officer for Polavaram project especially to focus on the grievances of the Polavaram displaced families. Anand O (IAS, 2016), who has been working as Sub-Collector in Gudur of Nellore district, was transferred and posted as Special Officer, Polavaram Irrigation Project.