The State government should write to the Union government, asking it to bear the entire cost of the Polavaram project, Congress Rajya Sabha member K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao demanded in an open letter to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
‘PPA sought details’
In the letter, Mr. Ramachandra Rao charged Mr. Naidu with forfeiting the State’s claim over important promises such as Special Category Status (SCS) in lieu of funds for the Polavaram project. Referring to the minutes of several Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) meetings, Mr. Ramachandra Rao alleged that Mr. Naidu did not cooperate with the PPA, which led to the crisis.
Though the PPA had sought details of the revised estimates of the project and transfer of assets and liabilities at its first meeting in March 2015 and in several meeting after that, the State government refused submit the same, he alleged.
While the Centre had made it clear that the State government was only executing the project for the Centre, the State government was continuously asking the PPA to treat Polavaram as an Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP), Mr. Ramachandra Rao said.
When the PPA refused to treat it as a project under the regular AIBP, Mr. Naidu was forced to mount pressure on the Centre.
But in the political negotiations, Mr. Naidu had to forfeit the State’s claim over other assurances, Mr. Ramachandra Rao said.
Increase in estimates
The Congress leader asked Mr. Naidu to explain why the Polavaram estimates had been increased from ₹46,926 crore to ₹58,319 crore in a matter of four months from April to August, 2017.
