Welcoming the Centre’s in-principle nod to release ₹12,157 crore for the Polavaram irrigation project, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has said that it would help his government bring the State back on development track.
“It is a major step towards completing the Prolavaram project which has been hanging fire for decades. The NDA government in the State will fast-track the project now, with the support extended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Minister for Jal Shakti C.R. Patil,” said the Chief Minister while addressing the media at the Secretariat in Amaravati on August 28 (Wednesday).
Mr. Naidu said the announcement regarding the sanction of ₹12,157 crore in two tranches—₹6,000 crore in the 2024-25 financial year and the rest in the 2025-26 fiscal year— would enable speedy execution of the project, with the aim of completing it by March, 2027.
The Chief Minister said the project should have been finished in 2021, but it made little progress as the previous YSRCP government had changed the contractor midway and brought in the reverse tendering “in furtherance of its interests”.
“The first thing Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy did after becoming the Chief Minister was to stop the project work. Even his father Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy failed to take the project forward except for some canal works that were done during his tenure. It was the faulty construction of the project which caused heavy floods in the Godavari in 2020 and the diaphragm wall was damaged beyond repair. Out government will construct a new diaphragm wall at an estimated cost of ₹993 crore,” said Mr. Naidu.
Sir Arthur Cotton had initially thought of constructing the Polavaram project, but was forced to give up the idea due to the denial of permission by then British Parliament and this had prompted him to construct the barrage on the Godavari River at Dowleswaram. The Polavaram project was thus jinxed, Mr. Naidu observed.
Industrial corridors
Mr. Naidu said the State government was thankful to the Centre for approving the development of the Kopparthy (Kadapa district) and Orvakal (Kurnool district) industrial hubs under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDP).
“These hubs will give a fillip to industrial growth at a time when the State government is looking for financial support to create infrastructure to attract investments. The Krishnapatnam node in the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor is poised to make rapid strides and so is the proposed bulk drug park at Nakkapalli in Anakapalli district, the tender process for which has been set in motion,” Mr. Naidu added.
