Cabinet nod for Rs. 12,157 crore for Polavaram project

Vijayawada : “It was a good day and the beginning has been very encouraging” as the Union Cabinet announced sanctioning Rs 12,157 crore for the Polavaram irrigation project and the state cabinet decided to abolish the reverse tendering system introduced by the YSRCP government which had ruined the project. This infuses renewed confidence that the state would progress at a faster pace, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said.

Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil, the Chief Minister said that since the Polavaram project was a national project it had given a schedule to complete the project. Of the Rs 12,157 crore, Rs 6,000 crore would be released during this financial year and the balance in the next financial year. He said by March 2026-27 Polavaram project would be completed. He also thanked the Centre for approving the revised estimate of Rs 30,000 crore for the project.

Naidu said though the project was started during the regime of T Anjaiah in the 1980s it proved to be a cursed one as the works did not move forward. Naidu said Y S Rajasekhara Reddy resorted to frequent changing of contractors and it got into legal tangles. Roasiah, who succeeded him, could not take it forward and Kiran Kumar Reddy tried but he too could not do much. Later, the state got bifurcated and the Centre announced it as a national project. The project was put on fast track by the previous TDP government but YSRCP which came to power in 2019 ignored the project.

He said now again the TDP-led alliance government had put the damaged project back on track and from November onwards its works would start in full swing. Naidu said in fact Sir Arthur Cotton during the British period conceived the Polavaram project but the British Parliament did not clear it. Hence opted for the Dowleswaram project.