CM Chandrababu: Jagan’s arrogance damaged Polavaram; repairs will take 4 years

Polavaram: Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu alleged that the Polavaram project has been seriously damaged due to the ‘arrogance’ of the former CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Claiming that the ‘lifeline of the people of Andhra Pradesh’ has been hurt, he said that he is ‘really pained to see the present condition of Polavaram.’

“After witnessing the damage caused to Polavaram, I personally feel that Jagan is the kind of person who is not at all fit for politics,” CM Naidu told media persons on Monday during his personal tour of the project. He added that the Polavaram project is a case study of the devastation caused by the previous government.

“Jagan has committed an inexcusable blunder with regard to Polavaram,” CM Naidu remarked.

Maiden visit to Polavaram as CM

On his maiden visit to Polavaram as the chief minister, CM Naidu was received by the local ministers, MLAs, officers of the Irrigation Wing, district officials and other leaders.

On his personal visit to get a first-hand experience on the current condition of Polavaram, the chief minister inspected the spillway, cofferdam, and diaphragm wall and visited the left side guide bund which collapsed beside the Gap-3 area and the upper cofferdam. After closely examining the entire project, the CM sought various details from the officers and also reviewed the present project condition with the officials.

‘72% of Polavaram completed under TDP’

Later, Chandrababu while talking to media persons regretted that his ‘five-year-long hard work’ had totally gone to waste with the attempts made by the previous government. Stating that 72 per cent of the project works were completed during the earlier TDP regime, the chief minister said that if the Polavaram project with the interlinking of rivers is complete the State will never face any kind of drought.

Recalling how he got all the seven mandals in the neighbouring State of Telangana merged with Andhra Pradesh in 2014 when the TDP-BJP alliance was in power in the State while the NDA was at the helm of affairs, CM Chandrababu said that the project was designed after decades-long of exercise with 45.72 metres to reserve 194 TMC feet of water.

“If the storage capacity is 194 TMC feet we can utilise 320 TMC feet which includes flood water. With this water can be supplied to North Andhra, both the Godavari districts, Krishna and Guntur along with Rayalaseema region as there is a possibility to utilise 99 per cent of the storage water,” the chief minister said.

‘Project’s diaphragm wall damaged under YSRCP’

Stating that Monday’s visit is his 31st visit to Polavaram, he said he had visited the project 30 times during his earlier tenure.

He said he had struggled a lot to acquire the land by impressing the owners and added that after the YSRCP came to power the then government changed the agency in the name of reverse-tendering. With the previous government’s neglect, the diaphragm wall was damaged four times affecting 35 per cent of the wall.

‘New diaphragm wall will cost Rs 990 crores, says CM Chandrababu’

“While the earlier TDP government had spent Rs 446 crores on the diaphragm wall now for the repairs alone Rs 447 crores needs to be spent and the officers are saying that still there is no guarantee that it can be repaired 100 per cent,” CM Chandrababu said. For constructing a new diaphragm wall at least Rs 990 crores is needed and all this because of the damage caused by Jagan, he added.

Alleging that the upper and lower cofferdams too got damaged due to the negligence of the previous government, Chandrababu said that the guide bund too collapsed. “I do not know how many thousands of crores need to be spent for these repairs and the officers too do not have proper statistics,” he added.

‘Repairs will take 4 years’

Had the earlier agency been continued, the project works would have been completed by the end of 2020, the chief minister said and stated that repairs alone will take at least four years if everything goes well. CM Chandrababu Naidu said that every person in the State should be informed about the damage caused to Polavaram and nothing should be kept as a secret.

The chief minister recalled that he was not allowed to visit the Polavaram project site when he came here in his capacity as the Leader of the Opposition and said that if the expenditure goes up it will be a burden on the Centre too.

Observing that Polavaram has become a center for controversy, Chandrababu Naidu said that stringent action should be taken against those who are responsible for the damage caused to the project.

“The project needs to be completed and we will go ahead with the works after holding discussions with the Centre,” the chief minister observed.