VIJAYAWADA: Even as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India expressed doubt over completion of Polavaram project by mid-2019, Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao has reiterated that the government will supply water to the ayacut under the project, through gravity, by June next year. There was no failure on the part of the State government in enforcing contract conditions, he asserted, and added that officials will provide clarification to all the observations made in the CAG report. Speaking to media persons on Thursday, the minister said necessary documents supporting the State’s arguments will also be submitted to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
“We will release water by completing the first phase of the project by June or July next year. We did not go out of the way to give any concessions, mobilisation advances, performance securities, excise duty and others. All the recoveries that were done too were not because of paying in excess. It was a part of the agreement and we have done it as per the agreement,” he said.
Devineni also defended the delay in the execution of the project, as pointed out in the CAG report, stating that the TDP government has revived the project which was in a limbo. “The previous government entered into a five-year agreement with the executing agency in 2013, that too with 2011-12 Standard Schedule of Rates (SSR). The work was delayed by 1.5 years. When we came to power, we took all these issues to the notice of the State Cabinet and resolved them. Until now, 58.3 per cent of the project works were completed,” he explained.
On revised cost estimates, the minister said that a team of officials will visit New Delhi next week to get the faster approval of the same. “We will also request for the immediate release of `2,918.3 crore as reimbursement,” he said.Devineni lambasted the YSRC and PAC chief Buggana Ranjendranath for spewing venom on the project. The minister also cited the CAG reports between 2009 and 2013, which made observations regarding mismanagement of funds in ‘Jala Yagnam’. “I warn the Opposition leaders not to spread lies to mislead the public,” he said.