VIJAYAWADA: Water from Polavaram project would be released via gravity by Kharif-2022 after the completion of civil construction by December 2021, Water Resources Minister P Anil Kumar asserted. He added that a “large-scale” statue of former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who, he said, was instrumental in making the 70-year-old dream of the State a reality, would be installed near the project site.The minister inspected the ongoing works at the project site on Tuesday and held a meeting with the officials.
Speaking on the occasion, the minister asserted that the project would be completed as per the deadline. “We will complete the project by December, 2021, and water will be released via gravity for Kharif-2022. We are going to finish the rehabilitation and resettlement (R and R) of 18,000 project-displaced families by March next year. In the subsequent year, the remaining people will be rehabilitated,” he explained.
YSR statue near Polavaram site
To a query on installation of statue of former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy at the project site, Anil Kumar said, “It was YS Rajasekhara Reddy who had launched the works to make the 70-year-old dream a reality. His statue will be taken up on a large scale. The details of the height of the statue and others will be decided shortly. It was YS Rajasekhara Reddy who launched the project, and it will be his son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to complete it.” As per reports, the statue tentatively could be around about 100 feet tall.
On the occasion, the minister lashed out at former irrigation minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, who questioned the logic behind laying a pipeline to Vizag when Purushothapatnam lift irrigation scheme was available. “After Polavaram is completed and the left main canal and right main canal are ready, the existing pumping projects would be redundant as we can divert water using gravity. Once water can be drawn using gravity, why would we use a lifting scheme, which consumes a lot of power? The pipeline is planned so that water could be drawn even when there is dead storage (120 TMC) in Polavaram,” he asserted.
No change in dam height, says Anil
Water Resources Minister P Anil Kumar once again clarified that the height of Polavaram dam, designed to store 194 TMC, would not be reduced even by an inch and that the water would be impounded in the dam as per the Central Water Commission’s guidelines. “It is the Centre’s responsibility to provide funds for all works including R and R of the national project. We hope that the Centre releases the funds in time,” he said.