POLAVARAM (Eluru district): Expressing dismay over the devastation caused to the Polavaram Project, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said it is uncertain as to how much time and money it would take to complete the project given the extent of damage.
Naidu who made his first field visit to the Polavaram Project on Monday after becoming Chief Minister said it was saddening to see so much effort and so much taxpayer money wasted just because of an 'ignorant and willful' decision taken by previous Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
He said changing the agencies at crucial hours of works pertaining to upper cofferdam, transferring officials of the project who were experienced and knowledgeable about the project created a gap in the work, which proved fatal during floods in 2019 and 2020.
“The gap in the upper cofferdam was to be filled before the flood season. However due to change in the contracting agencies, change in officials, no work was done. In the subsequent floods, Diaphragm Wall was badly damaged 35% at four different places. Even stability of the upper cofferdam is doubtful given the leakages observed,” he explained.
Naidu said the previous government went ahead with changing the executing agencies even after being cautioned by the Central Water Commission and Ministry of Jal Shakti against such a move.
The Chief Minister said experts are trying to figure out how to address the issue of D Wall. “There is a proposal for parallel D Walls for the damaged portion. But, there is no guarantee that the rest of the structure will be intact. Cost of such repair work is expected to be Rs 448 crore. It should be noted that the entire D Wall was constructed with nearly the same amount. In case, an entirely new wall is to be constructed parallel to the old D Wall which is damaged, it is estimated to cost Rs 990 crore,” he elaborated.
Earlier, the Chief Minister inspected the project works at spillway, earth cum rock fill dam, upper cofferdam, DEall, lower cofferdam, hydro power project etc. Later, he held a review meeting with project officials and water resources department officials to take stock of the current status of the project. A powerpoint presentation on the project status was made by officials on the occasion.
He was accorded a warm welcome by minister for water resources Nimmala Rama Naidu, I and PR minister K Parthasarathi, minister for tourism Kandula Durgesh, principal secretary Sasibhushan Kumar, EnC Narayana Reddy, former EnC Venkateswara Rao, MEIL engineers and others.