The Polavaram Irrigation Project (PIP) is the lifeline of Andhra Pradesh, which is primarily based on agriculture. The revenue-starved State depends entirely on the Centre for completion of the project. It is the responsibility of the Centre to complete the PIP according to the A.P. Reorganisation Act passed by Parliament to bifurcate the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and the residuary A.P.
Giving top priority to irrigation projects in general and the Polavaram in particular, A.P. has set very tight targets for completion of the project and is directing a lion’s share of its resources to it. A couple of bureaucratic wrangles between the State and the Centre resulted in loss of one season. The tardy release of funds has also hampered the pace of work to some extent.
Work pace
The foundation stone was laid for the project in 1980 but work really began only after 2004, but it progressed at a snail’s pace till 2012. The pace of work, however, picked up in 2014-15. From 140 lakh cubic metres of excavation work in 2013-14, the quantum of excavation increased to 220 lakh CuM in 2014-15, up to 360 CuM in 2015-16 and 900 CuM in 2017-18.
According to the figures revealed at the Polavaram-Somavaaram (Monday, February 5) review meeting, 53% of the project work has been completed till date. The Polavaram Right Main Canal which links the Godavari and Krishna rivers is 91% complete, but at the other end of the spectrum is the Spillway Concrete channel which is only 14% complete and the work on the Earth Cum Rock Filled Channel (ECRF) Dam that actually impounds water in the main river has not yet begun.
Though the PIP was taken up in undivided Andhra Pradesh, the erstwhile Congress government at the Centre, which officiated over the bifurcation of A.P., declared it as a national project under the terms that the Centre bore 90% of the cost and the State the remaining 10%. But after the elections, the BJP-led NDA government allowed the State government to implement the project and agreed to pay 100% for the ‘Irrigation component’ for the period starting from April 1, 2014 as part of a special package to the State. The Centre allowed the State to execute the project at the recommendation of the Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog (a body that replaced the erstwhile Planning Commission).
Financial planning
The Union Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) decided to provide for PIP from the Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF) of NABARD to fulfil the responsibility of the Centre. The Union Cabinet approved the funding of the PIP irrigation component on March 15, 2017. At a subsequent meeting, the Union Cabinet allotted ₹23,814.70 crore for the PIP from NABARD.
NABARD was given year-wise allocations for release of funds towards the building of the project. While ₹2,414 crore was the allocation for 2016-17, it was ₹3,400 crore for 2017-18, ₹9,000 crore for 2018-19 and another ₹9,000 crore 2019-20.
Despite the meticulous financial planning, the release of funds by the Centre does not seem to match the pace of work being executed on the project by the State.
While the State government spent ₹12, 915 crore on the PIP till December 31, 2017, the Union government released only ₹7,779.52 crore and still owes ₹4,375 crore to the State.
The delay in release of funds and the a couple of bureaucratic wrangles disrupted the work and resulted in the loss of one season. While water should have flowed to Krishna Delta and Yeleru Reservoir by gravity for the 2018-19 Kharif, it has been delayed by a year.
The MoWR ordered stopping of work at the dam site twice — on the first occasion it questioned the requirement of a cofferdam for construction of the ECRF dam and then questioned the changing of a contractor who was failing consistently to achieve mutually agreed targets. Because of this, the State government’s plan to push water into the project canals this year using the cofferdam had to be postponed to next year.
