VIJAYAWADA: The State government has sought some corrections in the minutes of the meeting recorded by the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) on the revised cost estimates (RCE) of the national project. While the officials said that there was “no difference of opinion” on the outcome of the meeting — i.e. recommending 2017-18 price level as approved by the technical advisory committee, the revised cost committee, and the PPA itself — corrections were asked so that there is no scope for ambiguity.
After the PPA held a meeting on November 2, following the Union Ministry of Finance’s letter to confirm the prices to be considered for approving the RCE, its minutes were sent to the State as the special chief secretary (water resources) Adityanath Das wanted to ensure the State’s views are recorded without any deviation. Accordingly, the draft minutes of the meeting were sent to the State earlier this week.
“There were some corrections. We wanted some facts related to the justification we have given for approval of the 2017-18 price level to be included along with references to the correspondence between PPA and the State,” a senior official explained.To a query if there were objections in the recorded minutes, the official said, “There was no difference of opinion on the final outcome of the meeting, so there were no objections as such. What was decided in the meeting can’t be changed. But, we wanted our version to be recorded unambiguously.”
It may be recalled that the State officials, after the meeting earlier this month, said that the PPA responded positively for the consideration of 2017-18 PL. In fact, in the meeting, the CWC also had concurred with the State’s view that completion of the project was difficult with `20,398 crore at 2013-14 price level, as mentioned by the union finance ministry in its letter dated October 12.
The PPA is expected to send the final minutes of the meeting to the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti in the next couple of days. Since the Polavaram Project Authority, in January 2019, had approved the 2017-18 PL, the officials are of the view that going back on the earlier approval would be unlikely. The union secretary of the water resources department was also party to the decision then, the officials pointed out.