VIJAYAWADA: The Union Ministry of Jal Shakti has asked the state government to expedite the rehabilitation and resettlement of project displaced families (PDFs) of Polavaram Irrigation Project (PIP) as the flood season is set to begin and close to 10,000 families are yet to be moved.
Ahead of the Godavari floods, secretary of Union ministry of Jal Shakti Pankaj Kumar held a review on Thursday on the project execution, particularly land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement (LARR).
It is learnt that the union secretary has pointed out the delay in shifting the PDFs to rehabilitation and resettlement (R and R) colonies, works of which were still underway. The secretary also reviewed the preparatory measures being taken by the state for the ensuing flood season.
The state officials apprised the union secretary the progress of civil works and LARR. The state officials categorically informed the Union ministry that project was “suffering because of uncertainty in funding” and requested for the immediate clearance of the revised cost estimates (RCE).
The officials explained that because of restricting the project cost component-wise by Union Finance ministry, that too at 2013-14 price level, the bills sent to Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) were returned without being cleared for reimbursement. So far, bills to the tune of Rs 574 crore were returned by the PPA.
The officials also pointed out that the process for clearance of approved reimbursement bills was taking a long time and noted that the latest receipt of Rs 333 crore took over 90 days from sending the proposal to the PPA (February 26) and receiving the funds (May 29). The state officials also presented the finances required for completing the execution, especially LARR works, as per the stipulated timline. In response to the state government’s requests, it is learnt that the union ministry said it would look into the issues.
RCE issue raised
The state officials pushed for the approval of the long-pending revised cost estimates (RCE) and requested that the component-wise price restriction be relaxed until the approval is given as the delay was affecting the execution.