Making it clear that the first phase of the Polavaram irrigation project would be completed by 2018, Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao on Sunday said that the government had spent Rs. 2,639 crore on the project so far, besides earmarking Rs. 3,500 crore for it in the budget for the current fiscal.
After participating in a private programme at Dowleswaram, the Minister addressed a press conference here along with Home Minister N. Chinarajappa and local elected representatives.
Stating that the Central government was yet to release funds of Rs. 2,077 crore, Mr. Rao said that the Chief Minister was on the job of getting those funds released at the earliest.
“The left main canal of the Polavaram project will be completed by June 2017 and the first phase of the project will be completed by 2018. The State government is committed to interlinking of rivers and providing irrigation to barren lands spread in an extent of one crore acres,” he said.
Taking potshots at the Leader of the Opposition, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, for not supporting the government in implementing people-friendly policies, Mr. Rao faulted the Opposition for challenging the government’s irrigation projects in the court of law.
“The Opposition is there behind the petitions being field in various courts challenging the irrigation projects. It is Mr. Reddy who is obstructing the development works in the State and he is not in a position to welcome the government’s initiative to divert the Godavari water to the Rayalaseema region,” he said.
Opposition behind petitions being filed in various courts challenging the irrigation projects
D. Umamaheswara Rao
Water Resources Minister
