Naidu stresses need for effective utilisation of river waters

Rajamahendravaram: Former Chief Minister and TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday wondered how Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy could allocate Rs 8,000 crore for the projects pertaining to his Cabinet colleague Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy after complaining that he was facing funds shortage to carry out maintenance works for projects.

Naidu made a power-point presentation on the irrigation projects in the erstwhile East Godavari district as part of his ongoing programme ‘Yudha Bheri.’

The TDP supremo said that had the Polavaram project been completed every acre in the district would have got sufficient water for irrigation and the water crisis for the industries too could have been resolved permanently.

Observing that the surplus water from the five major rivers, the Krishna, the Godavari, the Pennar, the Vamsadhara and the Nagavali, was going waste into the sea, Naidu said that if this water is properly utilised the whole State will turn into a fertile land.

Since there is not much difference in the gravitational height between the sea and the land, it is a great advantage for the State and the water can easily be lifted, Naidu felt.

The Godavari water has been shifted to Rayalaseema during the TDP regime and this has permanently resolved the water crisis in the drought-prone region, the former Chief Minister recalled.

“We have linked the Nagavali and the Vamsadhara rivers in North Andhra through Heera Barrage. If the Srujala Sravanthi is completed the Godavari water can be shifted there and the surplus water that is now flowing into the sea can be supplied to Rayalaseema. If the tanks and reservoirs are filled with this water Rayalaseema will not face any problem for water even if there are no rains for four or five years consecutively,” Naidu explained.

Maintaining that during 2014-19, the TDP had given highest priority for the irrigation sector and for construction of projects, Naidu said that the government had worked with a firm resolve to complete all the projects taken up at that time overcoming various problems only with the sole aim of supplying water to the whole State. While the TDP regime had allocated 9.63 per cent for irrigation of the total budget estimates, this current YSRCP government has allocated a mere 2.35 per cent and this clearly indicates this government’s commitment to the irrigation sector, he criticised.

The works on Polavaram project were executed at a fast pace during the TDP regime with the cooperation of national-level engineering and IIT experts and 72 per cent of the project works were completed, Naidu pointed out. After visiting the Polavaram project, the Union Ministers too appreciated the hard work of the TDP government while the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) too expressed satisfaction, he added.

However, the YSRCP government did not properly spend even the funds allotted by the Centre for the project, the TDP supremo alleged, adding that for personal gains this ruling dispensation has confined the project height to only 41.15 meters.

ustice is not done even to the project displaced and the Central funds too were not distributed to them, he said.