Polavaram project to be ready by December '2021'

Polavaram (West Godavari): Minister for irrigation P Anil Kumar Yadav asserted here on Tuesday that Polavaram project would be completed by December 2021 with the support of the Central government.

Addressing media here, the minister said that Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy laid the foundation stone for the project and his son Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy would complete it in December 2021 by which time the water would be released by gravity to the kharif season. Strongly reacting to the criticism of the TDP leaders, the minister denied that there was any deviation in the project works. He dared TDP leader Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao to measure the project height with a tape.

The minister said that either the TDP or Chandrababu Naidu has no right talk about the R&R packages at Polavaram. He wondered as to how could the TDP leaders say that they have completed 70 per cent works of Polavaram project when the R&R package worth Rs 30,000 crore was totally ignored. The minister said once the Polavaram project was completed Pattiseema and Purushottapatnam schemes would be redundant. Water would be supplied to Visakhapatnam through gravity, he added.