Ap CM Ys Jagan announces in the Assembly
Dr YSR statue will be installed on the project
Amaravati, March 22: Affirming that Polavaram Project will be completed by Kharif 2023 without any reduction in the height of the dam, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said that it will be dedicated to Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy and his statue will be installed.
Rounding off the short discussion on Polavaram in the State Assembly here on Tuesday, the Chief Minister stated that there was delay in getting clearance of designs from Central Water Commission (CWC) and after getting the approval, he assured to complete the project in 18 months. He also asserted that Rehabilitation and Relocation (R&R) works are going at full pace and will be completed on time with the help from Centre.
The project will be completed by Kharif 2023 and the height of the dam will not be reduced. As the project was started by former Chief Minister Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy it will be dedicated to him besides installing his statue.
Its God’s script that the project be started by the illustrious father to be completed by his son, the House was told.
The Chief Minister exposed the poor handling and mismanagement of the project by the previous TDP government, where huge gaps were left in both upper and lower cofferdams resulting in the damage of diaphragm wall of the project. Taking a dig at Chandrababu Naidu, the Chief Minister commented that Naidu handled the project without any planning and could be the worst ever visionary in world history for creating a man-made disaster with the Polavaram Project. When the issue of cost was raised while we were in Opposition, we were gagged, he said.
However, efforts were made to clear the mess that had been created by the previous government and successfully completed spillway works, upper cofferdam, spill channel and installed 48 gates in a very short time.
Speaking on the project finances, he said that the opposition leader had compromised the Special Category Status and also agreed to construct Polavaram at 2014 prices for the sake of commissions. Although it was a national project, where every cost will be borne by the Centre, Chandrababu has taken it into his hands and ruined it by accepting the special package. With this the Centre had agreed to pay only Rs 29027 core, while the escalated cost was around Rs 55,000 crore. He said that the current government is still pursuing the Centre in this regard.
Further, the Chief Minister said that the previous TDP government had completely abandoned the R&R works and started constructing cofferdam. The current government has relocated 27 out of 373 identified places, where 7962 of 20496 displaced families have been shifted to R&R colonies. Since 3228 families have opted for OTS, houses for the remaining 17268 families are being constructed.
He flayed the previous government for shoddy handling of the project causing massive delay and organising family tours misusing a large chunk of public money. Brushing aside the opposition’s malicious propaganda of reducing the dam height, the Chief Minister clearly stated that there will not be any changes in the project height. He said that Polavaram was started by his father YS Rajashekar Reddy and shall be completed by him.
Earlier, Irrigation Minister Anil Kumar Yadav initiated the short discussion on Polavaram Project and MLAs Balaraju and Jaggi Reddy spoke on the subject.
