VIJAYAWADA: Former MP Undavalli Arun Kumar on Sunday took strong objection to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu bowing down before the Union Government and asking it to complete the Polavaram project. He also demanded Naidu to release a white paper on the Polavaram project and reveal facts to the people.
“It was the duty of the Central government to complete the Polavaram project and hand it over to Andhra Pradesh as it is a national project and it was clearly mentioned in the AP Reorganisation Act-2014. In the last three-and-half-years, Naidu accorded top priority to completing Pattiseema project and neglected the works of Polavaram,” said Arun Kumar at ‘Meet the Press’ organised by the Vijayawada Press Club.
The former MP found fault with the attitude of Naidu towards Polavaram project and said that it was clearly written in the Niti Aayog recommendation that Andhra Pradesh Government had approached the Centre to entrust the task of executing the works for speedy completion of the project. “In return, the Centre entrusted the work to the State government as Naidu agreed to take up the project as per the estimations prepared in 2014,” Arun Kumar said.
Naidu’s U-turn
Despite reservations from many quarters, Naidu took over the project from the Centre. “It’s nothing but earning quick bucks from the funds allocated for the project by the Centre,” he alleged. Arun Kumar wondered why Naidu had taken a U-turn over the completion of the project and asked the Centre to take the responsibility of completing the project within the scheduled time.
Arun Kumar said that on several occasions, representations had been made to Naidu to accord priority for the completion of Polavaram project rather than spending `3,238 crore for Pattiseema Lift and Purushothapatnam Irrigation Scheme. “But, he ignored my pleas and now he started bowing his head before the Centre, which shows his inefficiency in completing the project,” he alleged.
AP has debts of `2.16L crore
Giving statistics of the debts of AP, Arun Kumar said that the State has debts of `96,000 crore after bifurcation in 2014. “Now the debts have increased to Rs 2.16 lakh crore. If Naidu is really committed towards development, his government should release a white paper on the funds spent so far in the State,” he demanded.