Polavaram needs 3 more years to complete: YS Jagan Mohan Reddy

Rampachodavarm (ASR District): If special category status was the main issue during 2019 elections in Andhra Pradesh, Polavaram projectis likely to become a major poll issue on which the ruling YSRCP and opposition parties are going to lock horns.

As leader of opposition YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in June 2019 said that the Polavaram project was a cherished dream of people of Andhra Pradesh. The late chief minister Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy, during his tenure gave a shape to this dream and initiated the project. But during the TDP regime, it had become a symbol of rampant corruption. He said people had voted for YSRCP because they knew that TDP was incapable of handling the project.

But on Wednesday, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy said that it will take more than three years for the project to be completed. The reason being given now is that that the R&R package will cost more than Rs 20,000 crore and that was their first preference.

He said that central assistance was mandatory for the R&R package. So far the state had spent Rs 2,900 crore which the Centre was yet to reimburse. During his visit to the flood-affected areas of Chintoor, Jagan said that they will strongly demand the Centre to ensure that the money required for the R&R package was released.

The TDP criticised the government over this statement and said that the YSRCP which had said that if they get absolute majority both in Assembly and Lok Sabha they will force the Centre to give a special package has now backtracked though people had given them the majority. Now they failed to complete the Polavaram project and were coming up with excuses to delay it by another three years.

They said the statement by the Chief Minister that the Polavaram project will be filled to its full capacity only after full compensation is given to the displaced victims and after they are sent to resettlement colonies shows that the government had mismanaged the project.

Nothing in my hands: CM

"It is the Centre that prints the money. If it doesn't have money, who will have it? If it issues the notification, it will give the money," said Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. "There is nothing in my hands. Funds are not sufficient as the amount involved is Rs 20,000 crore. Had it been Rs 500 crore or Rs 1,000 crore or Rs 2,000 crore, we wouldn't have asked them. I would have done it on my own. Since it involves Rs 20,000 crore, we have to take them (Centre) into line," the Chief Minister said.