It is impossible to complete the Polavaram major irrigation project on Godavari river in the near future, as it requires huge money to take up the rehabilitation and resettlement of the project evacuees.
“I don’t think I will be able to see the completion of Polavaram project as long as I am alive. I must appreciate Andhra Pradesh state irrigation minister Ambati Rambabu for throwing up his hands and saying that nobody can say when the project will be completed,” former MP from Rajahmundry Vundavalli Arun Kumar said on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters at Rajahmundry, Vundavalli said if the Polavaram project has to be completed in all aspects, the government will have to pay huge compensation to the project evacuees.
“The state government doesn’t have so much money to pay the compensation to the evacuees. It has to depend on the Central government. But I don’t think the Centre is so magnanimous to release such a huge amount to complete the project. That is why I strongly believe that the project will never be completed in my life time,” the former MP said.
Vundavalli said there were no proper estimates as to how much money was spent on the project till now – right from the days of Y S Rajasekhar Reddy to that of Chandrababu Naidu and now Jagan Mohan Reddy.
“The government should release a white paper on how much money was spent on the project so far,” he demanded.
Vundavalli blamed it on the previous TDP government for taking up the responsibility of executing the Polavaram project, which is the lifeline of Andhra Pradesh.
“Many such blunders happened subsequently, such as construction of diaphragm wall without the construction of coffer dam,” he said, adding that the same mistakes were happening even now.
