Jagan, Union minister review Polavaram Project, discuss relocation of flood victims, funds

Polavaram: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy accompanied by Union minister for water resources Gajendrasingh Shekawat visited the Polavaram project and inspected the works. They also held a review meeting with officials.

During the review meeting, the Chief Minister brought some key issues to the notice of the Union minister and urged him to consider the entire project as a single component and process the bills every fortnight instead of component-wise reimbursements so that the state government has a cash flow and works can move swiftly. He said the PPA for the bills of Rs. 859.59 crore has been rejected and requested the minister to finalise the designs related to the damage that occurred in the lower cofferdam and ECRF areas at the earliest to avoid delays in the construction of the project.

Further, the Chief Minister highlighted the need to move the Polavaram Project Authority office to Rajahmundry which will ensure that the structural inspection of the works are carried out from time to time to avoid errors. He asked the Union minister to review the project once every fortnight and resolve the issues. Also, he asked the minister to consider paying compensation to the affected families through DBT.

In this regard, Union minister Gajendrasingh Shekawat responded positively to the requests made by the Chief Minister and immediately ordered his officials to chart out a specific plan on relocation of Polavaram flood victims to resettlement colonies. Also, he accepted the Chief Minister's proposal to provide compensation through a direct cash transfer scheme along with a proposal to shift the PPA office to Rajahmundry. He agreed to review the project works once every fortnight for the next three months and directed the officials of the project to take part in the review meetings.

The minister said the designs should be finalised immediately to bury the eroded area at lower cofferdam, ECRF without any delay and a decision should be taken utilising the services of expert firms in the country, or outside the country, within 15 days. He said that a dashboard will be set up to view the timely progress of works.

Meanwhile, the officials asked the Union minister to consider the construction cost estimates for the Polavaram project at Rs. 55,548.87 crore as per the 2017-18 price index and requested to include the drinking water component as part of the project.