Govt to call tenders afresh

Kadapa: The Kundu-Penna flood canal project work, which was taken up at a cost of Rs 72.53 crore in 2007 to quench the thirst of Proddaturu municipality and its adjoining areas, remained dormant for the past six years and hogged the headlines with the State government inclined to call fresh tenders to get the project executed.

The objective was to bring at least 400 cusecs of water from the Kundu River to Proddatur through the 33.907-km-long canal. An agreement was reached to start the project at Nagarajupalli in Pedda Mudiyam mandal. The canal will cover Rajupalem and Proddatur mandals and some areas in Chagalamarri mandal of Kurnool district. Problems in land acquisition, including farmers approaching the judiciary, derailed the project which was executed from 5.4 km to 13.4 km and from 22.6km to 27.4 km.

Another reason affecting the project was the then Chief Minister, Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy on December 24, 2008, laying the foundation stone for Rajoli reservoir on the Kundu river. Irrigation experts, in a rather belated wisdom, reported to the government that there is a danger of at least 11 km length of the flood canal being inundated by backwaters of the reservoir.

In such a scenario, the officials neglected the flood canal project which would be not useful even if it were to be executed. On the other hand, farmers of Parlapadu, Kottapeta, Dorasanipalli and Proddaturu objected to the canal project works and entered into litigation. Consequently, there was no progress in the project for the past six years.

Meanwhile, the project cost escalated to Rs 183.21 crore. On account of the land acquisition problem cropping up even after revising the project cost, officials decided to realign the flood canal project. They proposed to construct a link canal from Rajoli anicut for a distance of 1.8 km. Preparing the design to divert water into the main canal at 11.75 km milestone became crucial in the project. Another proposal was brought to execute the project to bring the canal to the outskirts of Proddatur taking it outside the Proddatur-Nandyal railway line from 31.7 km milestone. However, technical experts propose to link the flood canal project with Maduru canal at 33 km milestone.

Last month, two factions belonging to the ruling party vied with each other to grab the tenders. As a result, the project work is back to square one. Moreover, the qualification of contractors also became controversial. Consequently, the tenders to get works worth Rs 112 crore executed were called afresh.

With the increase in estimated cost of the project, the land acquisition problems are also on the rise. How the land acquisition from 13.68 km to 22 km became problematic is very clear. If the problems of farmers are favourably disposed of, the project would progress. The project requires acquisition of another 240 acres. The government proposed to give Rs 6 lakh per acre as compensation. But the compensation is not acceptable to the farmers. The government seems to be favourably inclined to complete the project. On the advice of the government, Irrigation Minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao visited the project site. However, the Opposition is alleging that the State government has been increasing the project cost to benefit a chosen few and doubtful of the government’s commitment to execute the project.

Legislator Rachamallu Prasada Reddy threatened to move the court with the government recently cancelling the tenders. In this context, the State government is inclined to invite fresh tenders.

Nagaraju