Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has developed a lot of affinity towards Polavaram irrigation project in the last five years for various reasons.
Naidu made it a point to personally monitor the progress of the project and dedicated every Monday for reviewing the project works.
His political rivals accused him of making big money in the form of kickbacks from contractors of Polavaram project.
Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged that Polavaram project was like an ATM for Chandrababu Naidu.
Of course, the TDP leaders deny these allegations, but politically, too, the project has become very important for Naidu. He made a desperate bid to claim credit for the project in the recent elections.
Even after the elections, Naidu tried to continue the practice of reviewing the progress of Polavaram project, but the EC issued him a stern warning against holding any review meetings in the wake of election code of conduct.
Now, with just 20 days left for the declaration of results, Naidu wants to take at least one last look at the project works physically.
He has decided to visit the Polavaram Irrigation project on May 6, the coming Monday to see the progress achieved so far.
Interestingly, Naidu had a meeting on Polavaram project at Secretariat on the progress of the project works. In this review meeting, Minister for Water Resources D Umamaheswara Rao, Principal Secretary for AP Water Resources department Shashi Bhushan Kumar and other concerned officials have participated.
During the meeting, Kumar briefed Chief Minister on the progress achieved at the Polavaram dam site in the last one week as well as the last month.
Though the election code of conduct is in effect and the polling was conducted in the state, the progress of the works were not affected.
Payments for the contractors have been paying properly. Chief Minister also expressed satisfaction on continuation of the works.
One does not know how the EC had allowed Naidu’s meeting and whether it will permit Naidu to visit the project site officially.
Otherwise, it will be an unofficial visit of the chief minister to Polavaram project!
