LARR a must to resume works of polavaram?
VIJAYAWADA: The Water Resources department is planning to expedite the process of land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement (LARR) so as to complete the construction of cofferdams, spill channel and spillway of Polavaram project by mid-2020. While expecting to resume the works from January, the officials said that it depends on the availability of funds as Rs 3,166 crore is needed for LARR of the project displaced families (PDFs) of the first contour (+41.15 m) of Polavaram.
Of the total Rs 8024.85 crore LARR works, the government spent Rs 4,858.73 crore — Rs 4,462.64 crore for land acquisition and Rs 432.09 crore for R and R. Out of the 20,664 PDFs, R and R has been completed for Rs 3,922 crore. For the remaining 16,742 PDFs, Rs 3,060.63 crore for R and R, and Rs 105.49 crore for land acquisition is needed to complete the works as the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) has recently directed the State to finish R and R details first even for the completion of works related to upper stream and lower stream cofferdams.
“The PPA asked us to complete R and R even for the completion of cofferdams. A meeting will be held shortly with land acquisition officials to expedite the pending R and R works. We expect to start the process by January, but it depends on the fund availability,” an official from the Water Resources department explained. It is learnt that the PPA insisted on the completion of R and R for taking up cofferdam works because the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in July this year had pulled up the authority, holding it responsible for the inundation of a few areas.
NGT faults PPA for going ahead with cofferdam without completing R&R
The NGT found fault with the PPA for going ahead with the construction of cofferdam without completing the R and R. On the financial front, neither the revised cost estimates (revised detailed project report) has been approved for the State to tap funds nor the interim reimbursement fund of Rs 1,850 crore been released despite being approved by the Union Ministry of Finance on November 8. Both the files have been pending with the Centre, for want of more information and procedural delays.
Meanwhile, an expert committee with members from Central Water Commission and other agencies has begun its inspection tour of Polavaram project on Saturday. The water resources officials explained that the committee reached the project site late on Saturday evening after inspecting the Left Main Canal (LMC). “On Sunday, they will inspect the project site, and on Monday the committee will hold a meeting with the State officials,” they noted. The meeting is likely to be held in Vijayawada in which Water Resources Minister P Anil Kumar is also likely to participate.