Uma to meet Gadkari in New Delhi today

Eluru: Water Resources Minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao said that he will meet Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi on Tuesday to discuss on the Polavaram Project.

He said that the meeting will be attended by the contracting agency officials and Water Resources Ministry officials. The Minister visited Polavaram Project site in West Godavari district on Monday and inspected the spillway, spill channel concrete works, cofferdam, gates construction and other works.

Speaking to the media on the occasion, the Minister lamented that Opposition leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy has obstructed the Polavaram Project. Uma alleged that Jagan tried to bag the contract of the project during the period when former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s helicopter was missing.

The Minister pointed out that the YSRCP MLAs did not visit the Polavaram Project even when all the other MLAs, MLCs recently toured the project. If the YSRCP MLAs visited the place, they would have had an idea on the progress of works.

He said that the engineering officials were working with a commitment to complete the project and Jagan has been blaming them to damage their morale. He said that the State government invited tenders for spillway works from 0 to 35th block at a cost of Rs 1,395 crore and the tenders would be finalised on December 22. The works would commence on December 28.

Uma said that the main contractor Transstroy will construct the spillway from 35th block to 54th block. “We will discuss the objections and other issues related to the Polavaram Project with the Centre in the meeting to be held on Tuesdayi. We will explain all issues of the project to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari,” Uma said.

The Minister pointed out that Y S Rajasekhara Reddy during his tenure as the Chief Minister failed to supply water to his native place Pulivendula. While the TDP has been initiating several measures to turn Rayalaseema into Ratanala Seema, he said.

The Minister exuded confidence that the Centre and State governments would complete the Polavaram Project for the benefit of the people at any cost by 2019. The cofferdam works would be completed by June 2018 and water will be released from the project through gravity.

He said 4,000 engineers, workers from 10 States and other countries are working on Polavaram Project. While the Congress government has spent only Rs 190 crore on the project during its 10-year term, the TDP government during the last three years has spent Rs 3,200 crore. The Congress even failed to complete the land acquisition procedure.

The TDP govt was now paying compensation to the displaced as per the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and it has now swelled to Rs 33,000 crore. The Minister pointed out that former vice-chairman of Arvind Panagariya has hailed the speedy completion of Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme within one year. Engineer-in-Chief M Venkateswara Rao, Headworks SE V S Ramesh Babu, and officials of Bayer, Transstroy and Bechem accompanied the Minister.