VIJAYAWADA: TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday demanded Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to explain when he will fulfil the promises made to families displaced due to the Polavaram Irrigation Project.
Throwing down the gauntlet at Jagan, the Opposition leader sought to know how much percentage of works at the national irrigation project were completed under the YSRC regime. He was addressing reporters on Monday at the Polavaram project site after spending more than three hours inspecting the status of the works as part of his programme ‘Yudha Bheri’.
Stating that the diaphragm wall was damaged due to the heavy inflow, the Naidu regretted that the State government could not take measures to control inflows at the rate of 22 lakh cusecs and let the water flow onto the ongoing works. Will the State government rebuild the diaphragm wall or undertake repairs to the existing one?” he asked.
“The contractor is not sure for how long the diaphragm wall can hold if only repairs are undertaken. Due to this government’s incompetence, there is no guarantee for construction works that have been completed with `400 crore,” he said.
Expressing doubts on whether the Centre will give its consent for the new diaphragm wall and whether the contractor will come forward to take up the works, Naidu demanded the Chief Minister to immediately give clarity on the issue. Citing Jagan’s statement that only 60 to 70 TMC of water will be stored, the TDP supremo sought to know who will the project benefit as its capacity was 194 TMC.
Naidu mocked, “The CM has failed to execute the works for the project due to his foolishness and inefficiency.” Claiming that only 5% of works of the Polavaram project were completed during former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s tenure from 2004-2014, the 73-year-old said YSR spent only `423 crore on it.
Sharing the details that he received from the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA), Naidu said, “The YSR government had commenced the works without resolving issues with the bordering States, without giving compensation to people who were displaced due to the project. Though the headworks were awarded in 2004, there was no progress till 2009.” The PPA had also found fault with the YSRC government’s reverse tendering process and had pointed out that there was no need for changing the contracting agency, he added.