‘Jagan threw away his chance’

YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy had a good opportunity to salvage the Polavaram project, but he had preferred to throw it away, in his bid to grab the Chief Minister’s post during the UPA regime, Minister for Major Irrigation Devineni Umamaheswara Rao alleged on Monday.

Refuting the charges that the TDP government was trying to put Polavaram project in cold storage, the Minister said that the UPA – II government would have definitely expedited Polavaram project, had Mr. Jagan demanded it immediately after his father YSR’s demise. “Instead of writing letters seeking completion of the project, Mr. Jagan wrote letter to the Congress top brass that he be made the Chief Minister,” Mr. Rao said.

The project was delayed for four years, because Mr. Jagan tried to “steal” the 960 MW power plant proposed as part of the project. So he had no moral right to level allegations against the TDP, the Minister said.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had a detailed discussion with experts about what was required to begin the works of the Polavaram dam spillway, Mr. Rao said.

The Pattiseema Lift irrigation scheme was an early benefit of the Polavaram project and did not require any clearance. There was no provision for a reservoir on the Krishna river even in the Polavaram project because there was no need for it, he explained.

He said that tenders for Pattiseema project had been finalised in a transparent manner and there was no scope for any corruption as it was being alleged.

Tenders for Pattiseema project have been finalised with transparency and there is no scope for corruption as being alleged.

Devineni Umamaheswara Rao,Irrigation Minister