Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asserted that the Union government was committed to financing and early completion of the Polavaram Irrigation Project in Andhra Pradesh.
Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman said this in her budget speech on July 23 (Tuesday).
“Our government is fully committed to financing and early completion of the Polavaram Irrigation Project, which is the lifeline for Andhra Pradesh and its farmers. This will facilitate our country’s food security as well,” she said in the Lok Sabha. There was, however, no specific mention of funds being allocated for the project.
The announcement has given fresh hopes for the people of Andhra Pradesh as the future of the project hangs in balance due to the damages it suffered in 2019-20 due to floods.
A.P.’s request to CWC
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Water Resources Minister Nimmala Ramanaidu urged the Central Water Commission (CWC) to accord permission for designs without compromising safety. He met CWC Chairman Kushvinder Vohra at New Dehi on Tuesday.
Stressing the need to complete the project at the earliest, Mr. Ramanaidu said that a loss of ₹10,000 crore per annum would have to be borne in case the project was delayed. An estimated ₹3,000 crore loss towards stabilisation of ayacut, ₹3,000 crore towards delay in energy generation, ₹2,000 crore crop loss in the Godavari districts due to floods, and ₹2,000 crore cost escalation per annum would take the total loss arising out of the project delay to about ₹10,000 crore per annum. The total loss in the next five years would be ₹50,000 crore, he said.
Responding to his request, Mr. Vohra said that the Union government prioritised the Polavaram project. The designs would be approved without any delay.
According to information, the expenditure incurred on the project after its declaration as a national project was ₹16,761.74 crore. The total funds released to the State government through the Polavaram Project Authority till date was ₹15,146 crore.
The Union government has to reimburse ₹1,615.47 crore, for the expenditure which was already incurred by the A.P. government after the declaration of the project as a national project.
Investigation
It was observed that there was an excess seepage from the cofferdam. The geotechnical investigation of the upstream cofferdam is in progress. Based on the investigation reports, remedial measures will be taken up as suggested by the international expert design consultant M/s AFRY India Pvt. Ltd., Noida (headquartered at Sweden). The consultant was recommended by the Central Water Commission (CWC) to study the damages and suggest a way out.
Recently, an expert from the U.S.A. and another from Canada, who were engaged by the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) to review planning, designs and drawings submitted by the executing agency (Water Resources Department, Andhra Pradesh), visited the project site.
