With the State Cabinet deciding to revise the cost of the Polavaram irrigation project, its authority to take an independent decision without consulting the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) is being questioned. Not just political parties, but irrigation experts and farmer leaders too are wondering how the Cabinet can take such as crucial decision pertaining to a national project.
The Cabinet on Saturday decided to get the Polavaram project executed at the current construction rates and to entrust the diaphragm part of the dam to Larsen & Toubro.
“This means the project cost will go up to Rs. 36,000 crore from Rs. 16,000 crore at one go. There is no provision to revise the cost of construction by more than 20 per cent. As per the procedure, the board of chief engineers has to approve the revised standard schedule of rates, which will be 10-20 per cent a year,” says Vipparthi Venugopala Rao, retired superintending engineer of the Irrigation Department.
Another retired irrigation engineer expressed doubts about the Government’s commitment to completing the project. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said the Cabinet cannot take decisions about the project as the PPA is in existence.
“There is no doubt that L&T has a record of taking up works like rockfill dams. Had the Government taken this decision 15 months ago, some portion of the work would have been completed by now,” says Ungarala Venkata Ramana, a BJP leader.
He said Polavaram is a central project and all the assets and liabilities under the project stand transferred to the PPA. “This is not the first time that the Cabinet has taken a hasty decision pertaining to irrigation projects. What it did for the Pattiseema lift irrigation project it is now repeating in Polavaram. The State Government should keep in mind that Polavaram is a national project,” says Kovvuri Trinadha Reddy, general secretary of the State Farmers Water Management Committees Association. “We have never before seen such a major hike in project cost,” he said.
