Senior Telugu Desam leader Kadiam Srihari on Wednesday refuted the allegation of TDP’s link to the tendering process of Polavaram project and said he was ready for a debate on the issue.
At a press conference here, he said the government was yet to respond to the demand of TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu for placing all the files relating to the tendering of Polavaram before the Speaker and floor leaders in the Assembly. Alleging that Polavaram project had turned into a golden goose for the Congress government right from the beginning, he said the Rs.4,770-crore single package tender was the largest in the country and wanted transparency to be ensured.
He urged Chief Minister N. Kumar Reddy to lead an all-party delegation to Delhi to exert pressure on the Centre for declaring Pranahita-Chevella and Polavaram as national projects.
Lashing out at the government for failing to complete any of the irrigation projects launched under Jalayagnam in 2004, he said the estimated cost of the 86 projects had exceeded Rs.2 lakh crore, while no additional water was provided in any district even though a whopping Rs.76,000 crore had been spent so far.
Alleging that public money was being looted by converting ‘Jalayagnam’ into ‘Dhanayagnam’, he said the programme was being utilised for whipping up regional passions and earning money. Although Rs.3,000- Rs.4,000 crore was spent on each project, water was not provided for a single acre. He said that more than Rs.70,000 crore went down the drain as attention was not paid to the suggestions made by Opposition parties and constitutional bodies.
In this context, he said TDP constituted field level committees and a 10-member body at the apex level tp scrutinise every project.