CM N Chandrababu Naidu pitches for Polavaram funds

New Delhi : Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu called on Union Minister for Jal Shakti Minister Chandrakant Raghunath Patil and discussed with him about the status of the Polavaram project, the damages it had suffered and the recommendations made by the foreign experts and the National Disaster Management Authority.

Naidu met the Union Minister after the Niti Aayog meeting for about an hour and submitted a proposal to release Rs 12,500 crore to complete phase-I of the Polavaram project. He also informed him that the construction of the new diaphragm wall would cost over Rs 900 crore and asked him to see that the Union cabinet approves the proposals at the earliest. He told Patil that if the Centre can release funds before November, the state government can restart the works in November itself.

Later, he told the media that he had fruitful discussion with the Union Minister and expressed hope that the Centre would help the state in taking up reconstruction works on Polavaram by November.

Replying to a question he said some opposition parties, including the Congress were making unnecessary noise over the announcement by the Centre on giving Rs 15,000 crore for the capital city of Amaravati and other promises. He said they should understand that the Centre had not made any new announcements. They were all part of the assurances given under the AP State Reorganisation Act 2014.

The previous government failed to get those funds from the Centre. Due to vendetta politics it even failed to utilise various central schemes. He said the Congress had promised special status but the successor government NDA said that special status would not be possible but will give help for capital investment and that is what the state was now trying to get from the Centre.

He said there was a difference of Rs 30,000 in terms of per capita income between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh at the time of bifurcation.But due to misrule by the previous government, the difference had further increased.

He said the state was asking for hand holding by the Centre since to overcome the damage the state has suffered during the last five years which was more than the loss on account of bifurcation.

He said while projects were ignored, no new investments came in and the existing industries ran away from the state. He said there was an urgent need to take corrective measures.