Polavaram synonymous with YSR, asserts CM

Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said that TDP has no moral right to speak on Polavam and asserted that the project is synonymous with Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. Intervening in the discussion on Polavaram project in Assembly on Thursday, the Chief Minister charged the previous TDP government with not following the technical order in the construction of the project resulting in the washing away of the diaphragm wall in the floods in the past.

Polavaram is synonymous with YSR, he said adding that former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has no locus standi to talk about the project as he had never spoken about it between 1995 and 2014. Dismissing the allegations of the 'TDP friendly media' on the project height as unwarranted and false, he said the government is committed to construct the project with its original height of 45. 7 metre but in the first phase, the height would be limited to 41.15 metre due to technical reasons for the safety and security of the dam.

He came down heavily on the media reports aimed at projecting Chandrababu Naidu as the person who championed the project's cause while faulting the present government for the delay. The Chief Minister displayed the designs of the project in the House to explain the 'haphazard manner' followed in the construction of the project saying Chandrababu didn't follow the technical order of constructing the spillway first.

"The TDP government first took up the works using the project as ATM and not the first needed priority works for the project sustenance," alleged the Chief Minister, adding that the technical necessity of constructing the spillway first across the 2,400-metre breadth of the river, upper cofferdam at the upper stream next and then the lower cofferdam in the lower stream prior to the construction of the diaphragm wall was not followed. He said that the former contractors of the project were relatives of a media baron and TDP leader Yanamala Ramakrishnudu.

Because the technical order was not followed, it was washed away in the floods leading to formation of scour pits in the main dam area, the Chief Minister explained. Even the incomplete spillway construction was faulty, as a 400 metre-gap was left over on either side. As the revised estimates of the project cost are to be approved by the Central Cabinet, he said he had met the Prime Minister recently and urged him to release an ad hoc amount of Rs 15,000 crore to go ahead with the project, the Chief Minister said, adding that the designs were approved by the NHPC and the government is ready to pay the compensation to the displaced persons as per the guidelines given by the Central Water Commission .