Centre will support Polavaram project, says Purandeswari

Vijayawada: BJP state president Daggubati Purandeswari on Monday said the NDA government at the Centre will definitely extend support to Polavaram irrigation project immediately after the state government asks for it.

She made this observation while speaking to a local news channel, and blamed the previous YSRCP government led by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for the current state of affairs. “Definitely, the Central government will extend its support immediately after the state government asks for it,” she said. According to the state BJP chief, the Central government has been extending its cooperation to the project from the time it was declared a national project till now.

“Maybe, there is a delay in submitting the bills but once they are submitted, funds are released immediately. But the responsibility of submitting the bills to the Centre in the proper format falls on the state government,” she said.

She alleged that the project didn’t move forward during the previous YSRCP rule and that it showed the erstwhile government’s lack of commitment towards it. Purandeswari said the mega irrigation project suffered serious damage in the past floods, such as the diaphragm wall and cofferdam getting affected.

On Monday, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu visited the project to take stock of the situation. Polavaram project is on River Godavari near Ramayyapeta village in Polavaram mandal of Eluru district, located about 34 km upstream of Kovvuru-Rajahmundry road-cum-rail bridge.

According to the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA), the multi-purpose irrigation project is intended to irrigate over 4.3 lakh hectare of land and generate 960 MW of hydropower, along with the supply of drinking water to nearly 30 lakh people in 611 villages. The mega project is also envisaged to divert 80 TMC water to the Krishna river basin.