Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu vows to speed up Polavaram works

Eluru: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said that Polavaram Irrigation Project across River Godavari will be the only biggest project to be dedicated to the nation after Sardar Sarovar Project across River Narmada in Gujarat.

The Chief Minister visited Polavaram Project site near Ramayyapeta village in Polavaram mandal on Monday. Before reaching the project site, he conducted aerial survey of the project works.

Highlights:

• Conducts an aerial survey of the ongoing project works
• Visits the project sitel Says Polavaram Project will be the biggest project to be dedicated to the nation after the Sardar Sarovar Project built across River Narmada

After inspecting the works at the project site in River Godavari, he addressed the media. He said the construction Sardar Sarovar Project started in 1961 and was completed in 2017 after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister dedicated this project to the nation as it is the biggest irrigation project in the country. After the Narmada Project, Polavaram Irrigation Project is the biggest one in the country and it is the project to be dedicated to the nation.

“The project on River Narmada took so many decades for completion. Now I am trying to complete the biggest project, next to Narmada. I am conducting virtual inspections and visiting the project site. I am after the officials and engineers, contractors to complete the project speedily.”

He pointed out that the Centre has agreed to bear 100 per cent cost of the Polavaram Project. It is a crucial project for Andhra Pradesh.

“The Centre has agreed to bear 100 per cent cost of the project. We have submitted the revised estimates for Rs 50,000 crore to the Centre. Out of it only Rs 32,000 crore is for land acquisition and Relief and Rehabilitation programme.

The land acquisition and R and R package is the biggest one for the project. We will give the best package to the displaced people of the project under the New Land acquisition Act 2013. We have so far spent Rs 7,000 crore in three years and the Centre has given Rs 1,000 crore.

He said that the 960 megawatt power house, iconic bridge, cofferdam, ECRF Dam works will start by October this year.
The tenders for the power house construction will also be called for soon, he added.

After completing the cofferdam, the water will be released to right and left canals on gravity system. “We are trying to streamline the construction work and out of 32 lakh cubic metres concrete work, so far 2.70 lakh cubic metres has been completed.

The diaphragm wall construction was completed to a stretch of 550 metres and at present River Godavari is in spate and after the water recedes, work for another 1,200 metres would be completed.”

Out of 53 locks of spillway, 39 have been completed and the remaining would be completed by November.He said the construction of Polavaram Project was being taken up with a time-bound programme.

The Chief Minister said the Neeru-Pragathi programme launched by the State government was yielding good results.Naidu claimed that the State achieved a growth rate of 27.2 per cent in the first quarter this year. Water Resources Minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao, Engineer-in-Chief M Venkateswara Rao, Polavaram Project Chief Engineer V S Ramesh Babu, District Collector K Bhaskar and others accompanied the Chief Minister.